A judge on Monday refused to dismiss the state of Virginia's challenge to President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law, a setback that will force his administration to mount a lengthy legal defense of the overhaul effort.
U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson refused to dismiss the state's lawsuit which argues the law's requirement that its residents have health insurance was unconstitutional, allowing the challenge to go forward.
Rasmussen's new figures are out showing a majority, 57 percent of likely US voters believe Obamacare is bad for the country and 59 percent favoring repeal.
Republicans, understanding that even if they take control of the House of Representatives from the Democrats in November, will not have a two thirds majority to override a presidential veto from Obama if they even did pass repeal, are saying they can refuse to fund the most egregious parts of Obamacare should they get control of the House in 2010. The implication being they can stop Obamacare by refusing to fund it, then repeal it after Obama is gone from office in 2012 if he fails to be reelected.
“Our goal remains to repeal the bill and replace it, but, clearly, with the president’s veto pen, we’re going to have to take interim steps,” said Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top House Republican on the Joint Economic Committee.
Republicans have proposed a bill to deny funding to any part of the law. But a more likely scenario is to choke off funding for pieces of the legislation that they find particularly troublesome, such as the requirement to buy insurance, changes to Medicare and the one most cited by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio): the “army of new IRS agents” to implement new requirements for business.
“Hopefully, we will have an election cycle where we will have a strong wave coming in that is opposed to this and can oppose the funding and the implementation of this,” said Sen. Sam Brownback, a Republican who is running for governor of Kansas this fall. The law “has to be funded to be implemented.”
There are other states also challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare, so this battle is still being waged.
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