New York Republican Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle said Monday that the Obama administration’s new rule mandating that religious employers provide health insurance plans covering contraceptives is “the largest single intrusion of the federal government on our constitutional rights.”
“I must say to you I was kinda surprised at how shocked the Catholic Church was when President Obama issued this HHS rule,” said Buerkle at The Heritage Foundation. (RELATED: Full coverage of the health care law)
“The very essence of the health care law, the very essence of it, is that the government will tell you what your health care is going to be. So it is absolutely a logical sequence that we now have the government stepping in and saying, ‘Ok we’re going to pick your conscience issues, we’re going to tell you Catholic Church or were going to tell you Catholic college, what you have to do.'”
“This is the United States of America, the intrusion here is astounding,” added Buerkle.
Videography by Sarah Hofmann