Nancy Pelosi was recently asked
by a reporter, ""Madam Speaker, where specifically does the
Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health
insurance mandate?"
She replied, "Are you serious? Are you serious?"
Yes
Madam Speaker, we are serious. At least, I am. In my opinion, our
Constitution is the most profound political document ever written. Many
Americans besides me would really like a "serious" answer to that
reporter's question.
Democrat House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at least made an attempt
at an answer. He was also asked where in the Constitution was Congress
granted the power to mandate that a person must buy a health insurance
policy.
Hoyer's answer:
Well,
in promoting the general welfare the Constitution obviously gives broad
authority to Congress to effect that end. The end that we're trying to
effect is to make health care affordable, so I think clearly this is
within our constitutional responsibility.
News flash for Congressman Hoyer: "general welfare" is mentioned only twice in the Constitution. The phrase appears once in the Preamble, but the Preamble gives the legislative branch no authority whatsoever.
"General welfare" is also mentioned once in Article I, Section 8. Here is what it actually means in that section.
The
powers of the legislative branch are stated in the Constitution. The
powers specifically granted to the Congress are spelled out in Article
I, Section 8. Since it isn't that long of a section -- and there aren't
that many powers -- I will reproduce the entire enumerated powers of
the Congress in the first endnote below[i].
The words "general Welfare" show up in the first line of Article I, Section 8:
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States ... [Emphasis added.]
Notice that the Constitution doesn't say the "general welfare of the citizens of the United States." It says "general Welfare of the United States." This clause only gives the Congress the power to raise money
to defend the country and pay for the day-to-day operations of the
government. It says nothing at all about building bridges to nowhere,
or paving bike paths, or spending money on any other kind of pork
barrel project -- including health care. Read the rest of Article I,
Section 8 below. The exact powers of the Congress are listed there.
That's it. That is all the constitutional
power that Nancy and Steny have. I know this because the people who
wrote the Constitution stuck on two pesky amendments. I like to call
them the "And we really mean it!" amendments. Here they are:
Amendment 9 The
enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment 10 The
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
respectively, or to the people.
The exact wording of the 10th
Amendment is important. Here, the "United States" clearly means the
federal government. The powers of the United States (according to the
Constitution) are not the same as the powers of its citizens ("the
people"), nor are they the same as the powers of the individual states.
So
the phrase, in Article I, Section 8, "general Welfare of the United
States" only applies to the inner workings of the federal government.
The Framers could not have made the point any clearer. Pelosi and Hoyer
have no power over the citizens' health care because they are given that power nowhere in the Constitution.
The words "health" or "health care" appear nowhere in the Constitution...
[ii].
So according to the 9th and 10th
Amendments, the "right" of health care must be guaranteed and paid for
by each individual state. For example, Massachusetts has made access to
health care a "right." According to the Constitution, the citizens of a
particular state can do that. Massachusetts can make
government-mandated health care a "right."
Whether or not the citizens of Massachusetts can afford to pay for that "right" is turning out to be
quite a problem. But that is a dilemma for the people of the state of
Massachusetts to work out. If the folks in Massachusetts don't want to
pay for the "right" to government-mandated health care, then they can
elect some different politicians and repeal the law -- or they can move
to a state the does not guarantee a "right" to government-mandated
health care.
If
a particular state does not provide a government-mandated "right" to
health care, the choice to provide (or not to provide) for our own
health care is up to each of us. Health care is our choice, but it is
not a "right" if it has not been made a right by an individual state.
At least that's what the Constitution says. Seriously.
[i] Section 8 - Powers of Congress
The
Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and
Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and
general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and
Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;
To
promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for
limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their
respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To
provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for
governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the
United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of
the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to
the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To
exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such
District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of
particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of
the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority
over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the
State in which the Same shall be, for the Er/ection of Forts, Magazines,
Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
[ii]
Ironically, the word "care" appears once in the Constitution -- in
Article II, Section 3. The word applies to the President of the United
States and says, "... he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed. ..." [Emphasis added.]