Lemieux: health mandate is sign of Big Government run amok

U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla., said Tuesday that the individual mandate that Americans buy health insurance is unconstitutional and would give Congress unchecked authority to tax or fine residents. LeMieux, who had asked for Attorney General Bill McCollum to review the legal question, endorsed McCollum’s finding that the health insurance mandate violates the powers given to Congress under the Commerce Clause. “Iif this bad bill does pass, I encourage him and other attorneys general on behalf of other states to bring a suit,” LeMieux said in a phone interview. The mandate “fundamentally changes the relationship between the people and their government.” The bills in Congress require people to buy health insurance or face a government penalty. “What can not the the government regulate, if they can regulate that?” LeMieux asked. “They can tell me to eat my vegetables, or fine me. They can say I have to go to the gym, or fine me. All those things affect health care.” LeMieux, a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, is a former deputy attorney general in Florida and chairman of the Gunster-Yoakley law firm. Several prominent legal scholars and academics have disputed that reasoning, saying the

Commerce Clause gives Congress the power to regulate national economic issues, and health care fits the bill. And Laura Goodhue, executive director of Florida CHAIN, which supports health care reform, said the individual mandate argument is designed to make the bill unpopular. “It’s a shame that Florida officials are resisting health care reform, when it brings so many benefits to our citizens,” Goodhue said. In the interview, LeMieux said congressional Democratic leaders should not hold any votes in the Senate until the new U.S. senator from Massachusetts is seated after today’s special election. The Republican, Scott Brown, is polling surprisingly well against Democrat Martha Coakley. The race is a tossup. With talk swirling that Democrats could try to hold a final vote on the health care bill before Brown is seated, should he prevail, Lemieux said: “If they don’t seat Brown after this election in time for any vote, the Washington Mall is not going to be big enough for all the people who are going to come here and protest. They cannot get away with that kind of chicanery.”

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Lemieux: health mandate is sign of Big Government run amok

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