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L awrence J ournal -W orld - USA TODAY FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2015
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A week of major triumphs for Obama Gregory Korte @gregorykorte USA TODAY
WASHINGTON Senior White House aides bristle at the word “legacy,” which to them sounds a little too much like “lame duck.” But in the span of a few hours Thursday, President Obama cemented the cornerstone of his legacy and proved that, as political waterfowl go, he still has some life in his presidency. A week or two ago, newspapers spilled shipping containers full of ink on the demise of Obama’s trade package in Congress. After all, he couldn’t even carry one of his closest allies, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. How could he get the trade bills done? “I’m not going to hypothesize about not getting it done,” Obama said. “I intend to get it done.” Then there were the questions about the contingency plans for Thursday’s big decision on Obamacare. What happens if the Supreme Court strikes down subsidies for federal health insurance changes? “I’m not going to go into a long speculation anticipating disaster,” Obama said.
Thursday, it became clear he had gotten trade done and averted disaster on health care. Ninety minutes after the Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare, Obama walked into the Rose Garden and declared the Affordable Care Act “is here to stay. An hour after that, the House passed the last pieces of Obama’s trade package, allowing him to sign into law bills that give him “fast-track” negotiating authority while providing assistance to workers who might be put out of a job by any trade agreement he signs. Each big victory came thanks to unlikely allies: House and Senate Republicans on trade and Chief Justice John Roberts — whose nomination as chief justice Obama voted against in the Senate — on health care. “These are obviously two quite different policy issues, but they illustrate some important things about this president and this presidency,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “They illustrate the president’s willingness to work with whomever will work with him.” On health care, Obama didn’t seek validation from Roberts, whose 6-3 majority opinion held that health insurance subsidies are legal even
in states without state-run insurance exchanges. Instead, Obama said, the law’s most important affirmation comes from the 16 million more people who have health insurance. “This is not an abstract thing anymore,” he said. “This is not a set of political talking points. This is reality.” As in other debates Obama thinks are settled — such as climate change — Republicans have other
Thursday, it became clear Obama had gotten trade done and averted disaster on health care.
ideas. “The problem with Obamacare is still fundamentally the same. The law is broken,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. Every major candidate for the GOP nomination for president is opposed to it. But it’s becoming increasingly difficult to push the “undo” button on Obamacare, even if Republicans sweep in 2016. That’s something Obama has counted on all along. “What we’re not going to do is unravel what has now been woven into the fabric of America,” Obama said. Still, there would be no champagne corks popping at the White House on either issue, Earnest said. For one thing, Obama leaves Friday for Charleston, S.C., to deliver a eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was murdered along with eight others last week in what appears to be a racially motivated attack on his church. That speech will probably highlight another Obama priority long written off as unattainable: gun control. Though Obama wouldn’t spike the football, he did allow himself a brief moment to reflect on his accomplishments. “So this was a good day for America,” Obama said. “Let’s get back to work.” Korte is a White House reporter for USA TODAY
ALEX WONG, GETTY IMAGES
Court ensures Obamacare stays ‘law of the land’ v CONTINUED FROM 1B
credits that make insurance premiums affordable in all states, not just in those that created their own health exchanges. Despite four words in the 906page statute that provide for tax credits in exchanges “established by the state,” the court’s majority said the overall context of the law makes clear such subsidies were to be offered nationwide. “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,” Roberts wrote. “If at all possible, we must interpret the act in a way that is consistent with the former, and avoids the latter.” Read in context, he said, the law makes clear that Congress wanted subsidies available everywhere. The alternative “could well push a state’s individual insurance market into a death spiral” — a phrase frequently used by the law’s proponents. “The Affordable Care Act is here to stay,” Obama exulted in the Rose Garden. “This morning, the court upheld a critical part of this law — the part that’s made it easier for Americans to afford health insurance, regardless of where you live.” Ron Pollack, executive director of the health consumers group Families USA, said the decision “means the Affordable Care Act not only is the law of the land, but it will remain the law of the land.” Even opponents acknowledged the effort to kill or change the health care law belongs to Congress, not the courts.
STATE AND FEDERAL MARKETPLACES The Supreme Court ruled that all 34 states using the federal health insurance exchange, not just the 16 with their own exchanges, are eligible for federal subsidies that make premiums affordable. State-run marketplaces
Federal exchange used
Wash.
Maine Mont.
N.D.
Ore. Idaho Wyo. Nev.
Minn.
Neb. Utah
Calif. Ariz.
Colo.
N.M.
Wis.
S.D.
Kan. Okla.
Iowa Ill. Ind. Mo.
N.Y.
Mich. Ohio
Ky.
W. Va. Va.
Tenn.
Ark.
Pa.
N.C. S.C.
Miss. Ala. Ga. Texas
Alaska
Mass.
N.H. Vt. R.I. Conn. N.J. Del.
La.
Md. Fla.
D.C.
Hawaii
Sources Commonwealth Fund, USA TODAY research FRANK POMPA, USA TODAY
“The Affordable Care Act is here to stay. ... The court upheld a critical part of this law — the part that’s made it easier for Americans to afford health insurance.” President Obama
“The chief justice has said ‘We’re done here,’ ” said Josh Blackman, a conservative legal blogger and professor at South Texas College of Law. “The battle over Obamacare isn’t over, but today, the chief justice signaled it won’t go through the courts.” The lawsuit was the most dangerous of several pending against Obamacare. It threatened the tax credits averaging $272 monthly that are used by 6.4 million people in 34 states to cover most of the cost of insurance premiums. Thursday’s decision was the second time in three years that
the court has upheld key parts of the law — a fact not lost on the more conservative justices, who have twice voted to strike it down. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the blistering dissent, ridiculing what he called “somersaults of statutory interpretation” needed to uphold tax credits in states using the federal health insurance exchange. The result, he wrote, reveals “the discouraging truth that the Supreme Court of the United States favors some laws over others and is prepared to do whatever it takes to uphold and assist its favorites.” Scalia took the rare step of reading long parts of his dissenting opinion from the bench. The court has rewritten so much of the law over the years, he said, that “we really should start calling this law ‘SCOTUScare.’ ” Even Roberts, who grimaced during much of his colleague’s dissent, smiled at the remark. Roberts agreed the law was poorly written, often behind closed doors by lawmakers using a special legislative procedure to avoid requiring supermajority votes. It “does not reflect the type of care and deliberation that one might expect of such significant legislation,” he said. But, Roberts said, “the context and structure of the act” are more important than any one phrase. He said the law functions as intended only if its three prongs work together: insurers are required to cover everyone, individuals are required to have insurance, and federal subsidies are offered to make it affordable. Without subsidies, more than
IN BRIEF FUNERALS BEGIN AS ROOF’S FAMILY RELEASES STATEMENT
The family of Dylann Roof, the suspect in the Charleston church shootings, released another statement offering condolences to the victims’ families as the first funerals were being held Thursday for some of the dead. The new statement, issued by Roof family attorney Boyd Young, added that family members are aware of the many questions about “the story behind the tragic shooting” at the Emanuel AME Church, and they would do their best in the coming days to answer them. “That being said, we would like to take this time to reflect on the victims and give their families time to grieve,” according to the statement. “We feel it would be inappropriate to say anything at this time other than that we are truly sorry for their loss.” The statement was first reported by MyFoxAtlanta.com and the Associated Press. Services were held Thursday for Ethel Lance in Charleston and were also planned for the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton. — Doug Stanglin
8 million people would have been exempt from the requirement that individuals purchase insurance, because it no longer would be affordable. Hundreds of thousands of employers would have been exempt from penalties for not covering employees, because the penalties kick in only if any workers require federal subsidies. “The combination of no tax credits and an ineffective coverage requirement could well push a state’s individual insurance market into a death spiral,” Roberts said. “One study predicts that premiums would increase by 47% and enrollment would decrease by 70%. ... It is implausible that Congress meant the act to operate in this manner.” Abbe Gluck, a Yale Law School professor, called it “a strong signal from the court that the outcome was clear — that there was no other reasonable way to read the statute.” Had the latest legal attack succeeded, proponents of the law warned, insurance markets in those states would have become unmanageable as premiums rose and millions became uninsured. The White House, Congress and state officials would have been left scrambling to repair the law or create new state marketplaces. “Today, the Supreme Court allowed itself to be intimidated,” said Michael Cannon, a health policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute. “Afraid that Obamacare as written would throw the sickest patients out of their health plans a second time, the court rewrote Obamacare to save it — again.” Corrections & Clarifications
UBER PROTEST IN FRANCE
LAWYER: GUARD WAS DUPED INTO AIDING PRISON ESCAPE
ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT, AFP/GETTY IMAGES
French taxi drivers in Marseille burn tires Thursday during a fierce demonstration against the car service app UberPOP, sometimes disrupting travel of Uber drivers and passengers. CHRISTIE SET TO JUMP INTO Christie would become the PRESIDENTIAL RACE TUESDAY 14th Republican to officially join the race. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Citing “sources familiar with is planning to join the crowded his plans,” WNYC says Christie GOP presidential race and will will announce his plans at New make the announcement Tues- Jersey’s Livingston High School, day, according to multiple re- where he was once class ports, including WNYC and the president. Associated Press. — Cooper Allen
A prison guard charged in connection with the escape of two Northern New York inmates did not know the men were planning an escape and did not realize he was aiding their effort, his lawyer Andrew Brockway says. Gene Palmer, 57, was released Thursday on $25,000 bond after being charged with promoting prison contraband, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. Palmer, who worked for 27 years at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., is accused of providing Richard Matt and David Sweat with use of a screwdriver and pliers several times in exchange for jailhouse paintings. Court documents released by prosecutors state that, after the pair vanished from the prison June 6, Palmer burned some paintings and hid others. “The district attorney has gone on record by saying (Palmer) had no knowledge that they were planning to escape,” Brockway said. “He passed a polygraph test.” — John Bacon
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