New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman vowed Monday to bring a lawsuit against the federal government, should Congress repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In a short statement released from his office, the AG said his office had identified “multiple constitutional defects” with the repeal legislation, which is currently under consideration in the Senate. These “defects” reportedly include provisions that terminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year and shift Medicaid costs from counties to the state itself. Schneiderman’s office did not confirm these details to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Let me be clear,” the AG said at a health care rally at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. “If this inhumane bill ever becomes law, I will go to court to challenge it — I will sue the Trump Administration and their congressional allies — to protect New Yorkers.”
A final vote on the Senate’s repeal vote has been delayed while GOP Sen. John McCain recovers from surgery.
Schneiderman was one of 16 Democratic state attorneys general who moved to intervene in an ongoing ACA lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The challenge, brought by congressional Republicans, concerns subsidies that the Affordable Care Act offers low-income enrollees to reduce out-of-pocket expenses. The House GOP conference argues that Congress never appropriated money for the program, and that the administration is usurping its constitutional spending prerogatives. Article I of the Constitution vests all taxing and spending powers with Congress.
The AGs hope to take over defense of the subsidies now that federal support for the program is no longer guaranteed.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joined Schneiderman at the rally Monday.
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