The state Assembly voted against pulling a resolution to the floor Friday morning that would allow the state attorney general to challenge President Barack Obama’s new health care plan.
The Senate also failed to support the resolution at its floor session last Tuesday. With both houses unsuccessful at bringing the resolution to the floor, Gov. Jim Doyle is the only other person with the authority to allow Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to sue the federal government.
Van Hollen sent a letter to Doyle and leaders of both houses in March asking for their permission to challenge the constitutionality of the new health care reform. The main issue Van Hollen has with the new law is the statute that says someone must have health care insurance or face a penalty.
Republican legislators introduced a resolution earlier this month that would grant Van Hollen the authority to challenge the law. However, it stalled in the Committee on Health and Health Care Reform.
Friday morning, Rep. Roger Roth, R-Appleton, attempted to pull the resolution onto the Assembly floor. However, it was voted down 51-44. Roth said he was not trying to generate a vote either in favor of or in opposition to the bill itself, but rather a vote to protect the rights of states in the federal system.
“Last month, our federal Congress passed a health care bill that contains elements that I believe disturb the balance of power between our federal government and states,” Roth said on the floor. “I believe this mandate is unprecedented and unconstitutional and encroaches on our state sovereignty.”
Rep. Jon Richards, D-Madison, countered Roth’s claims by saying since the health care bill was passed by the federal Congress, the state Legislature has no authority to challenge it.
“Some of us would like a stronger bill. Some of us wouldn’t want them to do anything at all, but the fact is it wasn’t our bill. It wasn’t our debate,” Richards said. “[The resolution] has absolutely no basis in law or fact, it’s purely a political exercise and we should vote no in engaging in that political exercise.”
