Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
September 10, 2015 at 08:09 AM
(Bloomberg) — Congressional Republicans were allowed by a judge to pursue their lawsuit accusing the Obama administration of violating the Constitution by spending money on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA).
A federal judge in Washington on Wednesday declined to dismiss the lawsuit filed last year by the lawmakers, saying their claims were sufficient to allow at least some of their case to go forward.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, who led the legislators’ arguments before U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer in May, posted a blog statement hailing her ruling as a victory for “the country as a whole.”
See also: PPACA judge told funding dispute belongs on Hill, not court
The lawsuit, which challenged the administration’s reimbursements to insurance companies under PPACA, was initiated on a party-line vote by members of the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives and filed in November. The legislators claim the disbursements will total $175 billion over a decade and weren’t approved by Congress.
Collyer’s decision is only the most recent ruling to deal with aspects of the president’s health care initiative, which has been under continual legal challenge since he signed the enabling legislation in March 2010.
Tax credits
The U.S. Supreme Court, which in 2012 upheld the law as a constitutional exercise of Congress’ power to levy taxes, in June rejected a challenge to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations enabling millions of Americans to obtain tax credits for purchasing the required insurance coverage.
