Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) expressed great disappointment in the ruling handed down today by the federal judge in Virginia, which singled out the provision in the Affordable Care Act requiring Americans to acquire health care coverage.  Rep. Engel is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health.

“This ruling is part of Republican efforts to kill this law and roll back the benefits to families and thus return to the system which benefitted insurance companies, left Americans without adequate care and was on its way to bankrupting our country.  There have already been several courts who have thrown out similar challenges, and it is a shame that one judge is legislating from the bench by overturning the constitutional law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by the President.

“History is filled with examples of failed attempts to overturn landmark legislation – Civil Rights, Social Security, and others – as the last ditch effort of the status quo to stamp out badly needed social change.  Already, middle class families have begun to reap the rewards of this law.  It has offered small businesses a tax break to cover their workers, allowed young adults to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26, and provided assistance to seniors struggling to pay prescription drug costs.  It has ended denial of coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.  Fighting the details of this law is a battle against these provisions and against the well-being of the American people.

“Given this judge’s ruling against mandating the purchase of health insurance, would he also throw out laws mandating auto insurance? What about requiring people to wear seat belts or put their children in car seats?  Would that fall in the same legal ruling?  Obviously, these examples are ridiculous, and to me, so is this ruling.

“I call on the courts to uphold the legislation, which was enacted into law under the democratic process set forth in the United States Constitution.  I call on my Democratic colleagues in Congress to resist all attempts to repeal these benefits.  Americans will not only be healthier thanks to this law, but this will assist our economy as well.  I believe it is necessary, and it is Constitutional.  Any attempts to overturn it – whether by activist judges or by high-powered lobbyists in Washington – must be defeated.”

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