Governor Bobby Jindal and Attorney General Buddy Caldwell were in Lake Charles Tuesday speaking to the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. Amongst other things, the two announced the state joining 12 other states in filing suit against Federal government.
The suit is specifically filed against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S Department of Treasury, and the U.S. Department of Labor. The suit was filed Tuesday morning in the northern district of Florida. The states are joining to argue the bills constitutionality. Attorney General Buddy Caldwell questions if congress is allowed to do this and if they have exceeded their authority in doing it.
Governor Jindal calls parts of the bill unconstitutional. "You've got a bill that doesn't lower health care cost; instead it provides new spending, new debt, and new taxes. I think it's a mistake," said Jindal. The two thousand paged bill proposes over $500 billion in new taxes. "That's ridiculous in a time of a 14 trillion dollar deficit," said Jindal.
The Governor and the Attorney General are not against the entire healthcare bill, the part they are against is the part that mandates everyone to buy insurance. "This is a much greater authority and intrusion into private life as it were than what we've ever had with it," said Caldwell. The governor states the federal government had other options. "They could have pursued bi-partisan reforms like affordable insurance, voluntary purchasing pools, medical mal practice reform, investing in preventative and primary care. It would have actually lowered the cost of healthcare," said Jindal.
The governor says according to the 10th Amendment, there are certain rights reserved for the state and the people. "If the 10th amendment to the constitution means something, the commerce clause is interpreted this way, there would literally be no limit on congress's and the federal government's power. This has never been done in the history of our country we shouldn't allow this to happen now," said Jindal.
Both the governor and the AG are hoping the "act" is declared unconstitutional in court. If this happens, it would be the only part of the bill that would change. All other parts would remain the same.
Sarah Rosario
srosario@katctv.com


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