What if President Romney suspended Obamacare's implementation?

Over at American Commitment, Phil Kerpen speculates that if a hypothetical President Mitt Romney had made good on his campaign promises to stop Obamacare... well, things would actually look a lot like our current situation.

The big difference?

Liberals would be foaming at the mouth if Romney was behind such measures.  But alas...

 (Image: AFP/Getty Images)

To illustrate his point, Kerpen files this hypothetical news report:

WASHINGTON – The Romney administration faces a political and legal crisis as blowback from its controversial decision to unilaterally suspend central elements of the Affordable Care Act continues to intensify.

Under pressure from large corporations, the Treasury Department quietly announced the provisions of the law requiring employers to provide health insurance coverage will not be enforced. The law contains no language granting Treasury discretion for such a move and has a clear effective date of January 1, 2014. Nonetheless, Treasury official Mark Mazur announced in a blog post that penalties for employers who fail to meet the law’s requirements will simply not be enforced in 2014.

“President Romney is openly defying the laws of the United States that he swore an oath to faithfully execute,” said the leader of an umbrella liberal interest group that was formed to promote the Affordable Care Act. “Arbitrarily letting employers off the hook for providing health care is not just illegal, but it’s deadly for Americans who are counting that coverage.”

That umbrella advocacy group, several major national labor unions, and 14 smaller advocacy groups filed a lawsuit last week in the D.C. Circuit seeking an emergency injunction forcing the Romney administration to enforce the law. The groups are also staging a 24-7 protest in Lafayette Square across from the White House under a large banner reading: “Romney Is Not Above the Law.” A significant number of protesters are calling for the president's impeachment over the issue.

Continue reading...