[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 101 (Monday, July 9, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H4685]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

           By Mr. CANTOR:
       H.R. 6079.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 
     the Supreme Court rejected the constitutional basis offered 
     by proponents of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
     Act, the interstate commerce clause found in Article I, 
     Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution. Having eliminated 
     the requirement that all Americans buy insurance, the Supreme 
     Court recast the law's penalty for not buying insurance as a 
     tax, which Americans would pay in lieu of purchasing 
     insurance, and five Justices upheld this tax under the taxing 
     power of Congress, found in Article I, Section 8, Clause 1. 
     With the individual requirement to buy insurance having been 
     found unconstitutional, and, with the compulsory nature of 
     that requirement being central to the funding mechanism 
     contemplated under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
     Act, Congress hereby repeals the Act in its entirety. 
     Furthermore, Congress did not intend and does not now intend 
     to invoke its taxing power in relation to the individual 
     requirement to buy insurance.
       The Congress, the Executive, and the Judiciary are 
     obligated to act according to the principle of coordinate 
     branch construction based on their respective obligations to 
     ensure that all their actions are constitutional. This is the 
     clear meaning of the Vesting Clauses of Articles I, II, and 
     III along with the Supremacy Clause of Article VI, as well as 
     of the Oath of Office that each constitutional officer of the 
     Federal government must take pursuant to Article VI. James 
     Madison made this clear in 1834 stating, ``As the 
     Legislative, Executive, and Judicial departments of the 
     United States are co-ordinate, and each equally bound to 
     support the Constitution, it follows that each must in the 
     exercise of its functions be guided by the text of the 
     Constitution according to its own interpretation of it.''
       The ``Repeal of Obamacare Act'' repeals the Patient 
     Protection and Affordable Care Act and title I and subtitle B 
     of title II of the Health Care and Education Affordability 
     Reconciliation Act of 2010, which included several specific 
     provisions that extend beyond the enumerated powers granted 
     to Congress by the Constitution, including, in particular, 
     the Commerce, Taxing, and the Spending Clauses of Article I, 
     Section 8, as well as the Necessary and Proper Clauses 
     contained therein, and that otherwise improperly extend 
     authority to Federal agencies in a manner inconsistent with 
     the Vesting Clause of Article I, Section 1.
       The general repeal of this legislation is consistent with 
     the powers that are reserved to the States and to the people 
     as expressed in Amendment X to the United States 
     Constitution.