New GOP bill would clarify that healthcare mandate is not a tax

House Republicans proposed a bill Thursday to clarify that the individual mandate in the 2010 healthcare law, and associated penalties for not buying health insurance, "shall not be construed as a tax."

The bill is an attempt to get around the Supreme Court's June decision that the mandate and its penalties can be seen as constitutional when viewed as a tax. That ruling infuriated Republicans, who have since sought to cast the health law as a giant tax hike that violates President Obama's pledge not to impose any taxes on the middle class.

The legislation, from Rep. Raul Labrador (D-Idaho), finds that Congress explicitly decided not to call the mandate and its penalties a tax. And, it amends the law to say it shall not be construed as a tax, or as any other power of Congress listed in the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave Congress the power to lay and collect taxes on income.

It's not immediately clear what the effect of the bill would be if it were to become law, as the Supreme Court decided the mandate can survive as a tax even without any explicit reference to it as a tax in the law. The bill is unlikely to become law due to certain opposition in the Democratic Senate.

Nonetheless, Republicans have used multiple strategies for attacking the law throughout the 112th Congress, including by holding two votes on a full repeal of the law.

Labrador's bill, H.R. 6334, is cosponsored by Reps. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), Ann Marie Buerkle (R-N.Y.), Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) and James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.).

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