Texas Atty Gen on SCOTUS Obamacare Decision: 'The American People Lost'

On Monday, July 2, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott participated in a conference call sponsored by Americans for Prosperity – Texas to talk Obamacare and how it affects the states. During that call, AG Abbot said “the American people lost” as a result of Chief Justice John Roberts’ decision. He also said the decision “threatens prosperity” as much as any Supreme Court ruling ever has.

Abbott warned that the determination that Obamacare is now a tax, the biggest tax increase in American history, is “a threat to all of us.” He noted that the ruling is “a tax on liberty itself” because now Congress seems to have been given the power to tax inactivity rather than activity.

“The New Taxing Authority will Empower Congress in an almost unlimited way,” Abbott said.

Abbott utilized the same car analogy that many have used since last Thursday to explain why this ruling is dangerous. Congress may now be able to tax people for not buying “green” cars, the AG said.

AG Abbott also reminded listeners that President Obama and his lackeys perpetrated a fraud when they sold Obamacare. They didn’t sell it as a tax, instead insisting it absolutely was not a tax.

But since it is a tax, Abbott said that one of the bright sides to this debacle is that Reconciliation can be used against the law in the next Congress. This, of course, would require only 51 Senators–instead of 60–to repeal the law.

Abbott said that there are likely aspects of Obamacare that Texas can decide not to participate in, like insurance exchanges and the Medicaid expansion requirements in Obamacare. This idea has already been floated by several other states.

Abbott also said that American healthcare would suffer, falling to a lower level of quality as more Americans end up losing their own private healthcare insurance and are forced onto government sponsored healthcare programs.

The Attorney General also noted that Texas has already filed a lawsuit over Obama’s birth-control mandate and he wouldn’t rule out more such lawsuits.

Abbott was one of 24 state AG’s that participated in a lawsuit to sue the Obama administration over Obamacare, arguing before the Supreme Court over its un-Constitutionality.

Abbott is also disabled, himself, so he knows a thing or two about healthcare. Not long after he graduated from law school a tree fell on him as he was jogging, partially paralyzing him. Abbott is confined to a wheel chair as a result of the accident.