{"id":25436,"date":"2019-10-29T10:08:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T14:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=25436"},"modified":"2019-10-29T10:15:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T14:15:59","slug":"pelosi-healthcare-proposal-h-r-3-isnt-just-destructive-its-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/25436\/pelosi-healthcare-proposal-h-r-3-isnt-just-destructive-its-unconstitutional\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelosi Healthcare Proposal H.R. 3 Isn’t Just Destructive, It’s Likely Unconstitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alongside other conservative and libertarian organizations, we at CFIF have been highlighting the clear and present danger of Nancy Pelosi’s (D – California) proposed healthcare legislation H.R. 3 in letters to Congress<\/a> and commentaries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pelosi\u2019s bill includes an astonishing 95% tax on total pharmaceutical sales \u2013 not on profits, but sales \u2013 for private companies that don\u2019t play ball to Pelosi\u2019s satisfaction. Her proposal would also impose foreign price controls, completely restructure the popular Medicare Part D program, and create a compulsory arbitration mechanism overseen by government bureaucrats…\u00a0 Pelosi\u2019s legislation would jeopardize nearly $1 trillion in U.S. pharmaceutical investment, undermine patent protections, suffocate drug innovation and ultimately punish consumers. That\u2019s far too high a price to pay, and responsible members of Congress must therefore stop Pelosi\u2019s bill in its tracks.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, a new nonpartisan Congressional legal analysis suggests that it’s also likely unconstitutional<\/a>.\u00a0 In fact, the report cites three separate provisions<\/em><\/strong> of the Constitution that Pelosi’s effort to commandeer Americans’ healthcare choices under federal bureaucrats’ control:<\/p>\n

The Program created by Title I raises a number of legal considerations.\u00a0 First, because the negotiation under the Program is intended to lower the prices manufacturers can charge for certain selected, single-source drugs, the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment may be implicated.\u00a0 Second, the Program’s enforcement mechanisms – the excise tax and civil monetary penalties – may raise questions relating to the scope of Congress’s taxing power and the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment.\u00a0 Third, the Program’s limitation on judicial review may prompt questions regarding Congress’s powers to limit the subject matter jurisdiction of Article III courts.\u00a0 Finally, in setting forth the parameters of the Program, the language of Title I may implicate certain statutory interpretation questions.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s reason enough for Congress to resolutely reject Pelosi’s H.R. 3 due to the negative impact that her proposal would inflict upon Americans’ healthcare, our world-leading pharmaceutical innovators and our healthcare industry more broadly.\u00a0 The fact that it’s likely unconstitutional offers another reason to avoid the protracted sort of legal battles that would ensue, so that Congress can work toward solutions that actually improve American healthcare, like stronger patent protections and free-market principles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alongside other conservative and libertarian organizations, we at CFIF have been highlighting the clear and present danger of Nancy Pelosi’s (D – California) proposed healthcare legislation H.R. 3 in letters to Congress and commentaries. Pelosi\u2019s bill includes an astonishing 95% tax on total pharmaceutical sales \u2013 not on profits, but sales \u2013 for private companies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5048,5087,861,36,3738],"class_list":["post-25436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-drug-prices","tag-h-r-3","tag-healthcare","tag-pelosi","tag-price-controls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25436"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25443,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25436\/revisions\/25443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}