October 20, 2017

Democrats Yelp as Trump Upholds Constitution

Donald Trump is criticized, often justly, for misstatements of facts and failure to understand the details of public policy. But in two of his most recent controversial actions, he has taken stands upholding the rule of law and undoing the lawless behavior of his most recent predecessor.

Donald Trump is criticized, often justly, for misstatements of facts and failure to understand the details of public policy. But in two of his most recent controversial actions, he has taken stands upholding the rule of law and undoing the lawless behavior of his most recent predecessor.

The question now is whether the author of The Art of the Deal — and congressional Republicans and Democrats — can maneuver and compromise on these issues in ways that produce sensible public policy.

The first action in question was Trump’s Sept. 5 announcement that he would withdraw Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gave immigrants brought to the United States illegally when they were children protection from deportation.

Obama acted despite his initial explanation that the president only has the authority to faithfully execute laws, not to make them. So DACA was dressed up with a fig leaf argument that he was only exercising the kind of discretion prosecutors employ when they choose to bring one case and not another.

A nearly identical argument was rejected by federal courts considering the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program — which extended protection to undocumented immigrants with kids who are U.S. citizens — decisions left in place by the Supreme Court last year. So both DAPA and DACA looked like dead ducks legally anyway.

The second of Trump’s actions was his Oct. 12 statement that he would suspend cost-sharing reduction payments to health insurance companies. The Obama administration had been making CSR payments since 2014 even though Obamacare’s Section 1401 does not appropriate the money for the payments authorized in Section 1402.

This was blatantly unconstitutional. “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law,” states Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution. The House of Representatives sued, and in May 2016, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled that the billions paid in subsidies were illegal.

Administration lawyers made complex, sophisticated arguments that Obama’s clearly illegal actions were actually legal. I’m a graduate of Yale Law School; I know how this is done. Many Americans suspect that condescending elite law school graduates are contemptuous of them and their naive belief that words mean what they say. My experience is that those suspicions are well-founded.

So what to do now about DACA recipients (“Dreamers”) and insurance companies denied their CSRs?

Trump has made clear that he would sign a DACA-like bill together with some 70 other immigration law changes, including mandatory E-Verify for job applicants, creation of the “southern border wall,” hiring more immigration judges and replacing extended-family “chain migration” with a skills-based point system.

Democrats are bridling at these demands, and mainstream media quickly declared any deal impossible. But polls show that most are highly popular, and Democrats can’t pass legislation by themselves.

Trump’s list is obviously an opening move in a negotiation, so the question is whether Democrats are willing to negotiate.

Trump’s decision to follow the Constitution on CSRs raises the possibility of short-term hurt for some insurers and higher premiums for non-subsidized people with health insurance. Other proposals he has told his appointees to explore, such as expanding the Obama-imposed three-month limit for short-term insurance policies with less coverage than Obamacare requires, might help.

On Monday, Trump encouraged compromise efforts by Republican Lamar Alexander and Democrat Patty Murray. But when the senators agreed on a plan to appropriate CSR payments, though he originally said nice things about it, he rejected it Tuesday. So did House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Democrats have naturally complained that Republicans, having failed to repeal or replace Obamacare, are trying to wreck it. There’s some basis for that, but one could also say it’s Democrats’ own fault because they passed Obamacare in a form even they knew was flawed.

After it passed, as Bloomberg’s Megan McArdle writes, Obama resorted to “dubious executive measures that temporarily shored up the program, but weakened even further the slim foundations of political legitimacy that held it up. And here we are seven years later, watching as one by one, those supports sway or snap.”

One lesson: It’s hard to make complex one-size-fits-all laws work. Another: If you don’t obey the law, even the cleverest lawyers may not be able to keep you out of trouble.

COPYRIGHT 2017 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.