Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said she is disappointed by today's U.S. Supreme Court decision to reject the challenge to President Barack Obama's health care program.
"All of us who are disappointed with the ultimate outcome today cannot lose sight of what we accomplished," Bondi said. "We fought for the principle that the Constitution limits Congress' power to direct the lives of our people, and on that point, we won."
Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his opinion for the majority: "The federal government does not have the power to order people to buy health insurance."
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Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi
"Seven lustices agreed with our position that Congress could not force the states to make the unacceptable choice between losing all our Medicaid benefits or accepting a massive, unaffordable expansion of the Medicaid
program," Bondi said. "The most sobering lesson from this ruling is that our Republican system of government only works when our leaders are honest with the American people."
Before Congress passed his health care law, President Obama said the insurance requirement was not backed by a tax, Bondi said.
"And yet, here we are, reading an opinion that upholds the health care law on the basis of Congress' taxing power," Bondi said "It amounts to a $4 billion tax on the American people. In this case, the Constitution's limits on government power did not fail - political accountability failed because the president and the supporters of this law apparently were not straight with the American people."
Bondi said the American people will have their say in November, and she is confident they will reject a law "that is so harmful to individual liberty, to our economy, and to the welfare of our people."
