Top Republicans Praise Court for Stopping Obamacare ‘Power Grab’

House Speaker Paul Ryan: “This is an historic win for the Constitution and the American people."

Top House Republicans are praising a federal court for halting the Obama administration’s efforts to use a tax credit program inside the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to fund $175 billion in insurance reimbursements they say Congress never intended to spend money on.

“The court ruled that the administration overreached by spending taxpayer money without approval from the people’s representatives,”said House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) in a statement. “Here, the executive branch is being held accountable to We the People, and that’s why this decision is very good news.”

Under previous speaker John Boehner (R-OH), the House sued the administration over a section of the ACA they say Congress never intended to fund. The court agreed with the Republican-led chamber, citing the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision ruling in favor of ACA tax subsidies as precedent.

“The Affordable Care Act unambiguously appropriates money for Section 1401 premium tax credits but not for Section 1402 reimbursements to insurers. Such an appropriation cannot be inferred. None of Secretaries’ extra-textual arguments — whether based on economics, “unintended” results, or legislative history — is persuasive. The Court will enter judgment in favor of the House of Representatives and enjoin the use of unappropriated monies to fund reimbursements due to insurers under Section 1402.”

The court did not issue an injunction, saying it would wait to see if “either or both parties” would appeal the decision. The Obama administration is likely to do that, according to The Associated Press.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) said the ruling “is an important step toward restoring the separation of powers and stopping President Obama’s power grab.”

“The Constitution is … clear that Congress has the power of the purse — the President cannot spend Americans’ money on his own terms,” continued Goodlatte. “Yet President Obama has undermined this fundamental constitutional principle by spending billions of taxpayer dollars on the implementation of Obamacare that were never appropriated for those purposes by Congress by law.”

House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) said the ruling “is a victory for the rule of law and the American taxpayer. We received vindication of what we have known for quite some time — that the administration does not have the authority to spend over $150 billion for payments to insurance companies without an appropriation from Congress.”

“Today, the court’s message was clear: complying with Article I of the Constitution is not optional for President Obama,” said Upton.