Republicans in Androscoggin County have asked Gov. Paul LePage to call a special session of the Legislature to consider passing a resolve in opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
The Androscoggin County Republican Party approved a resolution to that effect Monday after a nearly unanimous vote, according to a press release circulated Wednesday morning by Chris Dixon, director of an organization called the Maine Tenth Amendment Center.
The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution deals with states rights and grants to the states powers not reserved for the federal government or withheld from the states.
The resolve calls for nullification legislation that would declare the federal law unconstitutional and authorize LePage and state lawmakers to take steps to block its implementation.
Durham Republican Committee Secretary Jason Greene introduced the measure and suggested that Maine could mirror its opposition to the Bush-era Real ID Act.
“There is no enumerated power for the federal government to create a national ID and there is no enumerated power authorizing the feds to run the entire U.S. health care system,” Greene said in a press release. “Maine and several other states refused to comply with the Real ID and said, ‘We aren’t going to go along with it; it is unconstitutional.’ Because of this, that law is basically gone and is not being enforced. We need to do the same thing with Obamacare.”
The Maine Constitution outlines two ways the Legislature can convene in special session. One is for the governor to order it, which the Constitution says must happen under “extraordinary circumstances.” The other is that Legislative leaders can call the session, but only with a majority vote of lawmakers from both major political parties.
Greene said other county GOP committees are also considering similar resolutions.
In 2011, Rep. Richard Cebra, R-Naples, introduced legislation to prohibit enforcement of the Affordable Care Act. It was rejected by lawmakers.
LePage said last week that he was considering calling a special session of the Legislature in the coming weeks, but didn’t say what he would have them debate. Since then, his office has been vague about whether or not he intends to move forward with his idea. The Maine Hospital Association has said the session would deal, at least in part, with repaying millions of dollars owed to the state’s hospitals.
Check bangordailynews.com throughout the day for updates on this story.
One more reason I won’t be voting for GOP this time around. There have been times when I have supported candidates who were Republicans because they were the better candidate and I supported their stands on issues. Not this time.
Excellent!
Carry on gentlemen and Godspeed.
We shall endeavour to persevere.
what is excellent about spending $35,000 a day on this? Aren’t republicans supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility? Doesn’t sound like it to me….
You would think that God would be on the side of those who are looking to help heal the sick. I don’t remember Mother Theresa trying to get medicine and care to the 1%, it was the meek she sought to heal.
If Mother Teresa had done her good works in the State of Maine instead of in India the radical right tea party parrot Republicans would have labeled her a liberal and would have done everything possible to cut her funding. Paul LePage could have gone to a bar and told some more of his Catholic Nun jokes to his drinking buddies.
rather than beat his knuckles with a ruler the nuns should have cut his tongue out. His big mouth is the problem.
Just when you think Republicans can’t get any nuttier — they do!
As this paper reported just last week, the cost of a special session of the Legislature is $35,000 A DAY!
And these geniuses want to have a special session just so they can pass a “resolve” condemning a federal law whose constitutionality has been upheld by one of the most conservative Supreme Courts in history?
“Party of fiscal responsibility”? Seriously?
$35,000 will get you a plate of oodles of noodles with some lobster sauce on it at an Obama fundraiser.
Oh because your income tax pays for that plate? Come on.
And not only that, in April 2011 LD58 was reported out of committee with a unanimous Ought Not to Pass, effectively killing the bill. Introduced by Rep. Rich Cebra (R-Naples), LD58 bore the title:
An Act To Prohibit Enforcement of the Federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
I’m reminded that there was another bill nearly identical to LD58 that was introduced last year by Rep. Aaron Libby (R-Waterboro). LD1233 was killed by the House by a vote of 122 to 21 in June 2011.
Don’t forget; its also a law that the Republican’s initiated. They supported Romneycare, the individual mandate, etc from 1993 until Obama signed it. This is not about health care, or insurance reform. This is about the Republicans lunactic hatred of any black man who would be President.
No , They aren’t prejudice, They hate ALL of us!
It just keeps getting better and better. The Tea nuts just don’t get that they have discredited themselves to the point that the vast majority now just considers them irritating (but dangerous) lunatics…like that horsefly buzzing around the picnic: it’s ugly, annoying and primitive, but it will bite you if you ignore it. The flyswatter comes out in November.
The GOP needs to kick-out the Tea Smokers before they are all crash and burn with’em.
Damn right the flyswatter is coming out in November. That should take care of the blackfly.
‘interesting’ statement depending on which side you’re advocating for in this conversation.
If they have any chance of opposing the ACA they better do it before Nov. as there won’t be enough of them left to do anything. What a bunch of idiots, a chance to help people who need insurance and others that want it but can’t afford it and they don’t want to go along with a program which was a Republican idea originally.
Kicking and screaming like spoiled brats the entire way. The SJC ruled it is constitutional. That’s the end of the line.
they ruled that the fine was a tax nothing more !
No, they ruled it was constitutional. If the law was unconstitutional, it would have been overturned. It hasn’t been overturned. It is constitutional.
it was ruled constitutional as a “teaching moment” by Chief Justice Roberts. He basically said we get what we deserve by who we elect and who we elect is responsible for what we have.
It is not constitutional because it allows the government to mandate anything they want (polar opposite of what the Constitution states). Maybe if Obama is re-elected, he will get rid of the whole silly Constitution since he hates the country, the Constitution and everything this country was built on and around anyway. And maybe he will get rid of the laws allowing a president to serve only two terms. Maybe he will dictate himself as the prosperous king of the country. I cannot wait to see what happens if he gets re-elected. Maybe then, all you jackasses (donkeys) will realize and understand the fundamental transformation of America (in Barry and Michelle’s words) is the wrong kind of history being made, not the right kind. But, expecting common sense now-a-days is such a far shot. Common sense is not so common anymore.
LOL, okay.
I’d be glad to talk to you, but you have to come back to planet earth first.
I have been on planet earth for my entire life, so thanks for that idiotic statement. Get real.
Wow…so, I don’t know what you do for a living, but I am guessing it is not teaching Constitutional Law. Imbedded in the Constitution is an explanation of the process that deems a law Constitutional. The Affordable Care Act went through that process. Your interpretation of a judge’s motive (one appointed by a Republican) is completely irrelevant to the topic.
I am an Engineer.
And I would be a better constitutional law professor than Barry Soetoro ever was.
It’s irrelevant if you say it is. Whatever you say. I could care less.
“it was ruled constitutional as a “teaching moment” by Chief Justice
Roberts. He basically said we get what we deserve by who we elect and
who we elect is responsible for what we have”
really? can you point out where Roberts EXPLICITLY said that in his written decision?
the SCOTUS deems it to be a legal law, and whiny republicans, making up their own reality….AGAIN, decide that THEY actually know what the Chief Justice was saying.
you’re funny Brewser, especially when you use your imagination so creatively
I could, but that would be too easy for you. You believe what you want to believe. I could care less.
You must be a comedian… Because everything you say is funny.
Here is a little tidbit! Because it is a Tax , the Federal Government has the right to impose it and the State “Doesn’t” so these dimwits dont have a leg to stand on using —States Rights!
The other day you stated your medicare deduction was going to $247. per month in 2014. I tried to answer but could not. To start with that is bunk , BS or an out and out lie. Each year sometime in the fall the government lets us know the amount that will be deducted. The gov. does have estimates for many years in advance and they are very close to the amount actually deducted. The amount estimated for 2014 is $116.00.
If you are obtaining your information from a crystal ball I suggest you throw it away. If the info is coming from E-mails, Fox News or hearsay, I suggest you stop listening or reading and do some research on you own.
You become more believable with facts as apposed to BS.
I love it. The crowd who claims they are all for cutting State expenses wants to have a special session of the Legislature just so they can pass a meaningless resolve. If you believe what these tea party parrots have been telling us WE ARE BROKE but so what. Let’s spend money that the State (according to them) does not have to pass a stupid resolve. It’s bad enough that the tea party parrots in Congress keep passing bills to repeal the Affordable Care Act knowing that they are dead on arrival at the Senate but now we have our own nutcases trying to get into the act. It must be like follow the leader for the insane. I suppose we will next hear from some esteemed tea party parrot member of the soon to be voted out of office Republican Legislature that he has startling medical information that women who are Legitimate Rape victims can control if they get pregnant. Opps sorry I guess some other nutcase has already used that one. Stop the insanity. Vote for anyone but a Republican on November 6.
The Maine congress is sane compared to the Federal House they passed it 31 times, talk about throwing money out the window. I was once a Republican but they are so crazy now that I wouldn’t vote for one if he was my brother.
Once again the Republican’s show their complete distain for Maine’s Constitution and traditions.
Considering what it costs Maine taxpayers when a special session is called, how about the Androscoggin GOP pony-up the money for this session first.
I find it interesting that people think balancing budgets, opposing new government spending, and believing in limited government is “radical.” LePage couldn’t do anything about ObamaCare, but people are concerned about a law that creates a new entitlement, when all of our entitlements are going bankrupt. If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to want a glass of milk. If you give someone an entitlement, they’re going to want another one.
Lepage’s state budget is 1/2 a billion more then Baldacci’s and Lepage has increased Maine’s debt by 1 billion. If someone wants less goverment speding then Paul Lepage is not your guy.
I find it interesting that you think that the Republican Party is the party of balancing budgets. I also find it interesting that “limited government” only seems to involve limiting the social safety net. Also, what in the Affordable Care Act would you call a government provided entitlement?
For a party who wants limited government they seem to want to have a lot to say about women’s private parts and what they do with their bodies. I would like to know why you consider health insurance an entitlement?
President Romney will be good to his word and have the house and senate(that will be the problem) repeal Obozocare, then hatchet the 85 pages of regulations the nitwit enacted, and eliminate all the illegal executive orders the fool signed and then start over.
Obamcare is Romneycare. Why do you think the Republican party boesses made sure he won. (even when he lost like in Iowa and some folks say Maine and Nebrasca.)
The way Mittens flip flops I wouldn’t count on the repeal and if the budget smartie figures it out it is going to cost bundles of money to repeal. I think they should repeal it for Republicans only then you nuts can go back to the failed system we were under.
I find it humerous that all you pansies have to refer to Mr. Romney as Mittens. It fits you so well.
And when you all pull your heads out of those very dark places where you have inserted them, you too will learn….perhaps….that Obunglecare will cost billions more than the liar-in-chief and his henchmen have lead you, the sheep, to believe.
I find it humorous (which is how you spell that btw) that you referred to Obama as a ‘black’fly in response to one of the first comments in this thread mentioning a horsefly buzzing. I don’t think anyone has to take what comes out of your racist mouth seriously. The true opposition to The President shines through yet again.
No doubt I am not the only one here to commit a typo. Surely you never have…
And you’re damn right I oppose this fraud, masquerading as president, and make no apologies for it.
Before Obamacare, there was a consensus that the existing system was not working. Before we are asked to repeal Obamacare, I’d like to hear what the opposition proposes to replace it.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for an answer that they don’t have.
Nothing. Not a thing. Can’t afford healthcare? Then you don’t get healthcare.
Wrong – it’s illegal for hospitals to refuse treatment for those who have no health insurance and are unable to pay for that treatment. Taxpayers pay for it.
then why do any of us have health care? why not all of us just drop it? why not just quit our jobs too? tax payers pay for that as well.. oh wait, if none of us have jobs, how will all the free handouts get paid for?
people without insurance get better care than people with. if you don’t have health insurance, a job or any means of money flowing in, in this world, you’re all set… no worries, the tab will get covered, whether or not you have the money.
“People without insurance get better care than people with” is 100% wrong. Totally inaccurate. Not a shred of truth to that. 0.0% correct. Does making stuff like that up feel good? Maybe I should try it too.
Get your head on straight before you make stupid accusations like that. I have personally been involved with hospitals and seen many family members with and without insurance go through a hospital and I firmly stand by my statement. Making stuff up doesn’t make me feel good, but apparently it makes you feel good… EAT IT!
After reading the posts YAWN!!!!!!!!!!!! Same old attacks from the same old liberals that made this mess.Remember in November, remove the liberal entitlement crowd once and for all.
You republicans make it so easy to attack.
I am curious, are people against it because they’ve read that facts? Or because it is a red/blue issue?
LOL…………………………………………………………………………………
maybe the Andro GOP can drive to the special session in a time traveling DeLorean.
I thought the GOP wanted to talk about how they want to ruin the economy again.
I thought special sessions were only to be called in the event of some emergency. Since when does opposing federal legislation two and a half years after it was signed into law constitute an emergency?
(Forgetting to do something because you were too busy bickering during the regular session doesn’t qualify it an emergency.)
Get over yourselves you bunch of Pathetic Losers. I can’t wait for November when you idiots find out how much the people of Maine don’t like you.
From Lewiston Auburn. Grew up poor. Mother said vote democratic because they represent us. Nothing has changed. OCCUPY
“…consider passing a resolve in opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act…”
is this the Bangor daily news or the Bangalore daily news?
i think the noun you’re looking for is “resolution”
are you guys using the same outsourced proofreaders as the Oregonian?