Git on out, ya'hear!

Git on out, ya'hear!








Gov. Perry has raised the possibility that Texas may reject nationalized health-care altogether. His take is that the 10th amendment gives the states certain rights and one of those is the ability to control health related issues of it’s citizens. The Star-Telegram reports:

Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be “disastrous” for Texas. . . .

“I think you’ll hear states and governors standing up and saying ‘no’ to this type of encroachment on the states with their healthcare,” Perry said. “So my hope is that we never have to have that stand-up. But I’m certainly willing and ready for the fight if this administration continues to try to force their very expansive government philosophy down our collective throats.”

It’s been a long time since I took Con Law I, but it seems to me there are couple of fundamental issues that come up on relation to this. First is the Supremacy Clause. The Supremacy Clause essentially states that when state law and federal law comes into conflict federal typically wins (there are a few exceptions, but not many). The other issue that would be raised by this is unfunded mandates. Basically the Court has ruled that the Federal government cannot force states to participate in federal programs without giving federal funding for said programs.

Watch Gov Perry on how Texas may reject nationalized health-care:

So, what can Texas really do? I don’t see how the government can force Texas to participate unless they just make the entire program a federally run one (which currently it is not, for instance Medicaid is run through the states through federal funding). However, I suppose if the federal government decided to treat this like Medicaid and have it run through the states, Texas could just say “No thanks, we’re good with what we have.” I don’t know how the federal government would force states to participate. It’s not like they could send troops like they did during the desegregation efforts.

Perry’s biggest beef is the fact that Texas probably has more illegals living in the state then just about any other state. He’s worried that the state is going to spend billions on health-care for illegals and it will basically bankrupt the state, a legitimate worry I think. This could be an interesting development should this plan pass.