Perdue Now Owns ObamaCare

Perdue and Cooper did the wrong thing. They defended a lousy policy because it is their president’s policy. Now it’s their lousy policy, too.

RALEIGH (By John Hood, Carolina Journal Online) – Gov. Beverly Perdue vetoed the Health Care Protection Act because the Obama administration told her to.

That much seems clear. When the bill originally passed both houses of the Republican-controlled General Assembly, the governor indicated that she viewed the legislation as of little consequence and would let it become law without her signature.

But Democratic leaders in Washington were not amused. Nor were some liberal activists in North Carolina and elsewhere. By last week, a different strategy was in place. Attorney General Roy Cooper released an opinion arguing that the bill was unconstitutional and posed a threat to North Carolina’s federal funding. Citing Cooper’s argument, Perdue issued her veto.

Cooper’s arguments aren’t just incorrect. They are laughable. Because the bill’s main purpose is to establish legal standing – a state law in conflict with a federal law – so that North Carolina can join the multi-state litigation challenging ObamaCare, it makes no sense to argue for a veto on the grounds that the laws have conflicting provisions. Of course they do.

But because the individual mandate in ObamaCare doesn’t kick in until 2014, Cooper’s argument that the state law is unenforceable is also silly. Perhaps it will be by 2014, if the litigation fails and ObamaCare remains the law of the land, but right now there is nothing stopping Perdue, Cooper, and other officials from executing the state law.