Thirty-one Republican senators have sent a letter to the White House, warning that union demands to expand Obamacare subsidies are unlawful and urging the president to put a halt to the effort.
As Fox News reports, union officials have been pushing the administration to provide taxpayer-funded Obamacare subsidies to even those members who already have health care coverage through their jobs. The White House dismissed that call in a Wall Street Journal report — but at the same time, a Treasury official in the same WSJ story called the issue “the subject of pending regulation.”
So what gives? The 31 Republican senators are requesting the White House clarify.
“We respectfully, but strongly, disagree,” they wrote, according to Fox News. “The statement made by Treasury simply ignores the letter of the law. The senators then added: “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is not ambiguous; in fact it is explicit, on this point. Any consideration of expanding access to subsidies therefore is not subject to regulation, but a change in the law.”
In layman’s: Caving to union demands would be illegal, under current Obamacare law, the senators say.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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