Health Care Mandates Not Enforceable? Health Care Penalties Interest Not Enforceable?

As we wade through the numerous ways that the health care legislation may be unconstitutional, here's one saying the mandate to purchase may not be enforceable, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. This is well-worth paying attention to - don't leave without reading the red text below.

Tax Collector

From BigGovernment's Morgen Richmond:

[Richmond] "However, it turns out that the Democrats who crafted this bill significantly – and I mean significantly – hamstrung the ability of the IRS or any other federal agency to enforce or collect on this mandate. Here is what the federal Joint Committee on Taxation had to say about this issue in a report released earlier this week:

The penalty applies to any period the individual does not maintain minimum essential coverage and is determined monthly. The penalty is assessed through the Code and accounted for as an additional amount of Federal tax owed. However, it is not subject to the enforcement provisions of subtitle F of the Code. The use of liens and seizures otherwise authorized for collection of taxes does not apply to the collection of this penalty. Non-compliance with the personal responsibility requirement to have health coverage is not subject to criminal or civil penalties under the Code and interest does not accrue for failure to pay such assessments in a timely manner.

[Richmond] In other words, as the law is written the federal government has no legal authority to enforce this mandate, nor will it have any recourse to collect any penalties that go unpaid! ...

[Richmond] The net result will be an ever increasing shift of healthcare costs on to those who remain in the insurance system (or to tax payers), and possibly even the bankruptcy of the insurance industry. Given all the double-talk the past year over the public option, and the demonizing of private insurers, it is hard not to wonder whether this was by design...

Click the link above to read the entire discussion at BigGovernment.

Others talking about the 'mandate.'
The Corner

Graphic found at Tax Shelters

Maggie's Sunday Morning Sermon Video: Uncle Sam and Your Wefare from the YouTube of Tim (Timothy?)

This morning's sermon from the YouTube of Tim (maybe Timothy?). Before the choir's soloist sings for us, pay special attention to the lyrics, and read them aloud with me, but first bow your head for a short prayer: Lord, may we be inspired to love and protect our Constitution as did our Founding Fathers, and we ask for your wisdom in doing so. Amen.

Who can take your money, with a twinkle in their eye? Take it all away and give it to some other guy? The government, the government can. Who can tax the sunrise, who can tax the trees? Let you run a business and collect up all the fees? The government, Oh the government can. The Government can 'cause they mix it all up with lies and make it all taste good. The government takes everything we make, to pay for all their solutions: health care, climate change, pollution...throw away the Constitution...

Congregation, please get our your pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution and go to: U.S. Constitution, Article I, Sec. 8:

“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States…” U.S. Const. Art. I, sec. 8"

The important thing to remember is, the above DEFINES the ONLY access to, and outlay of our money, your money, my money. Here is a quote from Senator John McCain, April 16, 2007, who wanted to give my money, and your money to millions of illegal aliens, who nevertheless, got this right:

But it was not intended to command our economy, or redirect its benefits to this or that interest group or subordinate its growth to the growth of government. Government's constitutional obligation to promote the general welfare did not empower it to assume the responsibilities of individuals but to protect our right to exercise those responsibilities without fear or favor, and to profit from the results.

Thank you to 9-12 Project for video. Video by Tim Hawkins Comedy Channel. Also visit Tim Hawkins' website. Here's a snippet from Tim's website bio:

Want clean comedy with an edge? Tim Hawkins brings the funny. Hawkins has been accused of being equally gifted and twisted. Whatever your take, he has indeed become one of the most in-demand comics in the country. His arsenal is unique: high energy stand-up, physical comedy, slick guitar skills, a thousand faces and voices, improvisational chops. It all combines to create an insane comedy experience. And yes, the guy can really sing. “People think I live a rock-star life”, said Hawkins. “Believe me, Mick Jagger never gets lost in a Hertz parking lot looking for his Ford Focus.” His art form was honed primarily in churches, with a brief 6-month stint performing in prisons as part of Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship. Since his shows ranged from little kids to youth groups to married adults, he had to develop material that would hit a wide age range... With 4 kids of his own and a wife who is winning her battle with breast cancer, Hawkins gets new material daily from the perils of marriage and parenting. But it must be difficult to work clean all the time, right? “Clean comedy is easy. Funny comedy is hard." Read more here.

Uncle Sam and Your Welfare

Don't miss today's most important news: Dick Cheney CIA Torture Investigation Video, Transcript

Congress Rebukes Obama: Presidential Signings Rebuked

One thing I know is true (one of Obama's favorite transitions) is...the campaign trail is a lying, cheating road to the Oval Office for four more years of lying and cheating. Congress has rebuked President Obama's Presidential Signings. Thanks to Stop the ACLU. This was then...

Obama on Presidential Signing

“What George Bush has been trying to do as part of his effort to accumulate more power in the presidency is he’s been saying ‘well I can basically change what Congress passed by attaching a letter saying I don’t agree with this part or I don’t agree with that part,” Obama said last year during a campaign stop. “I’m gonna’ choose to interpret it this way or that way.’ That’s not part of his power. But this is part of the whole theory of George Bush that he can make laws as he’s going along. I disagree with that. I taught the constitution for 10 years. I believe in the constitution, and I will obey the Constitution of the United States. “We’re not going to use signing statements as a way of doing an end-run around Congress.”

This is now:

The House rebuked President Obama for trying to ignore restrictions to international aid payments, voting overwhelmingly for an amendment forcing the administration to abide by its constraints.

House members approved an amendment by a 429-2 vote to have the Obama administration pressure the World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards and require a Treasury Department report on World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) activities. The amendment to a 2010 funding bill for the State Department and foreign operations was proposed by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), but it received broad bipartisan support.

The conditions on World Bank and IMF funding were part of the $106 billion war supplemental bill that was passed last month. Obama, in a statement made as he signed the bill, said that he would ignore the conditions. They would “interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations by directing the Executive to take certain positions in negotiations or discussions with international organizations and foreign governments, or by requiring consultation with the Congress prior to such negotiations or discussions,” Obama said in the signing statement.

Hat tip: Hot Air

End Stop the ACLU The Hill went on to report:

Senior Democrats and Republicans railed against the notion that the president could ignore a law they had passed and he had signed. "We do this not just on behalf of this institution, but on behalf of this democracy," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). "There's kind of a unilateralism, an undemocratic, unreachable way about these signing statements." Frank and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said that one way they could get presidents to stop issuing signing statements casting aside laws would be to refuse to fund their priorities. The amendment passed Thursday seeks to nullify Obama's signing statement by withholding funds from any agreement involving the Treasury Department that doesn't follow the conditions set out in the supplemental bill. "The signal we send to the Treasury is very clear: Ignore statute at your peril," Kirk said.