Republicans seeking to kill PPACA got another favorable ruling from a federal judge on Monday.
U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer, appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush, last month ruled that Congressional Republicans have standing to sue the Obama administration over the way it has funded the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
On Monday, Collyer rejected an attempt by the Obama administration to immediately have her ruling appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. District, meaning that she plans to rule on the substance of the lawsuit herself in the future.
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In House of Representatives v. Burwell, Congressional Republicans accuse the Obama administration of making changes to PPACA without necessary Congressional approval. It specifically focuses on the administration's decision to delay the implementation of the employer mandate as well as the billions of dollars in payments it has made to insurers to help them provide cheap marketplace plans to low-income individuals. It is the latter part of the suit that convinced Collyer to grant Republicans standing to sue.
In her Monday ruling, the judge suggested that it will be months before she rules on the substance of the suit. The Obama administration had argued that the potential implications of her previous ruling were so great that it needed an immediate appeal.
Not only does the suit threaten a central tenet of the president's health care overhaul, but it represents a potentially game-changing legal precedent because it is the first time either chamber of Congress has sued a president over its administration of a law.
"We respectfully submit that before this Court takes that momentous step, the D.C Circuit should be afforded an opportunity to consider the threshold questions raised by this suit," the administration wrote.
But Collyer responded that the Court of Appeals would be better served letting her rule on it first, as is typically the case.
Republicans celebrated the most recent decision as evidence that the president would be held accountable for what they call an unprecedented power-grab.
Needless to say, Democrats were less happy.
"We are confident that the courts ultimately will dismiss this taxpayer-funded political stunt, which would make health care more expensive for millions of Americans," said White House spokesperson Katie Hill in a statement.
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