|
 |
 |
|
GOP works to regain advantage in health mandate 'tax' debate
Republicans pounced Thursday after an Obama campaign spokesman said the administration always called the healthcare reform law's insurance mandate a penalty, and "never" a tax.
The attacks highlight the GOP's eagerness to regain the tax argument as a cudgel against President Obama after Mitt Romney appeared to flip-flop on the issue this week.
It also points to the Obama campaign's unwieldy position following the Supreme Court's decision to explicitly uphold the mandate as a tax.
"That's right. He's said that it's a penalty," LaBolt told Soledad O'Brien, adding that the administration "never referred to it as a tax" in court.
"It said that it was a penalty, and that's under the section of the law that's the tax code, but it said very specifically that it is a penalty," LaBolt said.
The GOP jumped on the remarks in several emails to reporters.
"This takes us back to Obama’s unsustainable paradox," wrote Republican National Committee (RNC) spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski. "They either consider his signature law an unconstitutional penalty or a constitutional tax. LaBolt indicated it's the former."
A later RNC email noted that Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who defended the healthcare law before the Supreme Court, did argue that the mandate was constitutional under Congress's taxing authority.
The two parties have been fighting over the semantics since the ruling came down last Thursday.
At first, Republicans appeared to unite behind one line of attack against Obama. Citing the court's reasoning, they argued that the law represents a major tax increase.
But the waters were muddied when a senior Romney adviser said the former Massachusetts governor does not see the mandate as a tax.
"The governor disagreed with the ruling of the court. He agreed with the dissent that was written by Justice [Antonin] Scalia that very clearly stated that the mandate was not a tax," Eric Fehrnstrom said.
This position was quickly reversed in an interview by Romney himself, who said on Wednesday that "it is a tax and it's unconstitutional."
On the campaign trail Thursday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Romney had defended his Massachusetts health law as a penalty "for years."
"The president agreed with him," she said.
"It is clear that [Romney] is being impacted by the push from the right, the Rush Limbaughs of the world, Congressional Republicans, pushing him to go back on a decision and a defense that he's had in place for years."
