Thursday, June 28, 2012

Obamacare

So the Supremes decided that while the government can't legally require you to buy a Chevy Volt, it can legally impose a stiff tax on you if you don't.

Romney is campaigning on the premise that he will work to get the whole thing repealed, which I believe to be as likely as putting a unicorn in every garage. Repeal would normally require a House majority, 60 votes in the Senate, and a compliant president. 2 out of 3 won't work, and I don't see the Republicans picking up enough Senate seats to pull this off.

The tiny ray of hope comes from the re-definition of the mandate as a tax. Tax measures are exempt from the filibuster in the Senate, so while repeal of the whole thing is probably impossible, it may be possible to hamstring it by repealing the tax part.

We shall see.

1 comment:

Cincinnatus said...

It was the Democrats that set the precedent that the bill could be passed via reconciliation rules in the Senate - exempt from filibuster.