Governor Chris Christie addressed the D.C.-based Brookings Institution this morning, Save Jerseyans. Did his speech make news?
Did you really need to ask?
You can visit the Brookings Institution’s website for the full video and unedited transcript.
Christie touched on another of topics which we, as engaged New Jerseyans, hear him discuss on a daily basis. On the less-visited topic of ObamaCare, he said “First of all, I was glad that the Supreme Court ruled that extortion is still illegal in America — and that’s a relief because Obamacare on Medicaid to the states was extortion. It essentially said, ‘You expand your program to where we tell you, and if you don’t, we’re taking the rest of your money away.’ Well, that’s extortion.”
A former U.S. Attorney would know, right?
By way of background, the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. ObamaCare) provided for states to lose medicaid funding if they refused to expand the federal program. One of the few bright spots in Chief Justice Roberts’s otherwise horrible opinion was the majority’s ruling that medicaid funding couldn’t be withheld by the feds for non-compliance.
Governor Christie, for his part, has consistently restricted his criticism of the President’s signature legislation to policy rather constitutional issues. He reacted to John Roberts’s opinion by focusing on the tax consequences (and they certainly are substantial!). The Governor had previously refused to join the state’s ObamaCare lawsuit, but he did veto healthcare exchange legislation passed by the Democrat legislature.
When the Governor vetoed the bill, he said in his statement that the reason was because the Supremes didn't rule on it yet. He says now that it's extortion, but will he state that he will not implement it in NJ like many other Governors have? I will feel more comfy when he does that.