Cuccinelli discusses where President Obama’s legislation directly violates the Constitution.

The first is textual. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution provides that “the Congress shall have Power . . . To regulate Commerce with Foreign Nations, and among the several States.” Although there have been disputes about just how far this should reach into commerce that is entirely intrastate, until now, it has been recognized that this constitutional provision deals with regulation of commerce — that is, with the use of law to impose reason and order on the voluntary commercial actions of citizens, as well as on activities that substantially affect commerce. An individual mandate to purchase health insurance is not regulation in that sense.

Virginia recently passed legislation which specifically states that residents of the Commonwealth are not mandated to have health insurance. This legislation was signed into law by Governor Bob McDonnell, and the new health care law would be in direct violation of Virginia law. Currently, Cuccinelli has a lawsuit in federal court challenging the unconstitutionality of the new law.

“Realistically, I hope we can find efficiencies in Medicare, but I don’t think we’ll find a half trillion dollars in Medicare,” Sen. Webb said. He also has deep reservations about the cost estimates put forth by the Congressional Budget Office.

WARREN: “Do you buy those numbers and will there really be a cost savings related to health care?”
WEBB: “I’ve been skeptical about the numbers. I’ve said it from the beginning. It’s my biggest problem with the legislation.”

Why didn’t Webb vote against the Health Care bill in December if he had reservations? He was the deciding vote.

Of course, this has garnered the ire of Virginia Democrats, as they have decided to create a petition to demand Cuccinelli stay focused on being an Attorney General, as well as accusing Cuccinelli of wasting money on frivolous lawsuits.

Cuccinelli is fighting to defend Virginia’s health care freedom laws and uphold the Constitution…which means he’s doing his job, right? Also, the cost for Virginia to file a lawsuit challenging the unconstitutional Obama health care plan is $350, while Obama’s health care plan will cost Virginians $1.1 billion over 12 years.

Meanwhile, Cuccinelli has created a petition to show Virginia’s opposition to health care. You can sign it here and add your support for restoring liberty.

Ken Cuccinelli on suing the federal government from Beehive Video on Vimeo.

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“On Fox News this past Sunday President Obama’s Press Secretary stated that by next week ‘we will be talking about healthcare not as a presidential proposal but I think as the law of the land.’ The health care proposal that President Obama and Speaker Pelosi have crafted would have a dramatic impact on the lives of every Virginian,” Mullins said. “Not only would it forever alter the world’s best healthcare system, it will negatively impact 16% of our economy. Make no mistake about it. This is a federal takeover of our entire healthcare system and a large portion of our economy.”

“Democrats have packed a great deal of mischief into these 2,400 pages. The Cornhusker Kickback? It’s still there, along with the Louisiana Purchase.” Mullins said.

“Democrats all over the place are talking about how this is just temporary and a ‘fix’ is coming just as soon as the original bill passes,” Mullins said. “That’s not true. Make no mistake: once the House approves it, and President Obama signs it, it’s the law of the land. Period.”

“The law will be higher income taxes for those who don’t want government-approved health insurance. The law will strip the Virginia General Assembly of its power to set standards for health insurance plans and give it to unelected bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services,” he said.

“With more and more members learning just what’s in this bill, Nancy Pelosi is even prepared to bypass the democratic process to get her law passed,” he said. “Democrats are working up what has been called the ‘Slaughter Solution,’ by which they’ll just ‘deem’ the bill to have passed… without actually having an up or down vote. First they were too busy to read the bill. Then Speaker Pelosi said that we had to pass it to learn what is in it. Now they’re too scared to give it an up or down vote… and who can blame the Democrats? This is just an awful bill and they know they can’t get the votes to pass it without coming up with some slick procedural vote that undercuts the core principles of our Democracy. All across the country, and especially here in Virginia, President Obama and Speaker Pelosi know that anyone who votes ‘Yes’ on final passage of this bill will most certainly be defeated this fall by the voters.”

“Friends, there is just too much at stake this week to allow this monstrous bill to pass and I believe that if folks in Virginia heard what was really in it, they would speak even louder in opposition to it,” he added.

“That’s why on Wednesday at 8 a.m. folks from all across Virginia will start to read all 2,400 pages of this healthcare takeover bill. Volunteers will read each and every page and will read in 30 minute shifts. Any Virginian who really wants to know what’s in this healthcare bill and learn why it is a bad deal for our state is invited to listen in. We will be streaming the volunteer reading of the bill live on our website at: www.RPV.org/ReadTheBill. We would also encourage Congressmen Nye, Perriello, Connolly, and Boucher to listen themselves and learn why this bill is bad medicine for their constituents.

Mullins said he anticpates the reading will take upwards of 40 straight hours and will be conducted around the clock starting at 8am on Wednesday and sometime late Thursday evening. “That’s a pretty good illustration of just how massive this government health care takeover is,” he said.

“We encourage everyone to listen to what’s in the bill, then call the handful of Virginia Democrats who have said they are undecided on this bill, and let them know why this bill is bad medicine for Virginia,” Mullins concluded. “Once people find out what’s actually in here, we’re fairly certain they won’t like it and what it will mean for the longterm health of our country.”

• Bearing Drift has a roundup from all of the GOP Congressional Campaigns in Virginia. It’s spot-on analysis.
• The General Assembly passed legislation to grant Virginians the freedom to decide whether or not they have health insurance. Tom White over at Virginia Right! has a great post up on the health care issue.
• What is it with the General Assembly and their obsession with raising fees this session? The budget deficits have caused great discussions and debate about fee increases to generate revenue. Family Foundation Blog has a great post up encouraging the General Assembly to tame its appetite for these increases.
• Could a tax hike on businesses in Virginia be enacted? According to the rightwingliberal at Virginia Virtucon, the House of Delegates is strongly considering the tax hike, while Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling believes that a tax hike would break promises of a general tax increase.
• Meanwhile, The Washington Post’s Virginia Politics Blog reports that hundreds protested an Arlington Delegate’s invitation for a Fairfax Imam to deliver the opening prayer during the House session.

According to a Richmond Times-Dispatch article, Quayle mentioned that these bills were a way of telling Washington that the Federal government is going beyond its authority.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Virginia Chairman, Pat Mullins, indicated that the passage of these three bills should send a clear signal to two vulnerable Congressmen up for re-election, Tom Perriello and Gerry Connolly.

“Monday’s bipartisan vote illustrates just how far out of touch Democrats like Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, and Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-11th, are on the issue of health care,” Mullins said. “When Republicans asked Senate Democrats to join them in standing up against federal overreach, five decided to put the rights of their constituents ahead of the wishes of Washington, D.C.”
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“Even Democrats in the Virginia Senate realize that the health care nightmare being negotiated behind closed doors across the Potomac is bad news for their constituents,” Mullins said. “Monday’s vote shows again that Reps. Perriello, Connolly and the rest of the Democrats in Washington, D.C., aren’t listening to their employers — the voters of the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

On the other side of the aisle, the Democrats are not satisfied by the passage of these bills. The Times-Dispatch interviewed Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax), and he said that this is nothing but a stunt for the 2011 State Senate elections. His colleague, Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) mentioned that the Senate should be focusing on addressing other important issues, and said these bills are merely playing politics with health care.

Depending on the status of Del. Bob Marshall’s (R-Manassas) HB 10, Virginia is merely standing up to assert its own granted authority under the Constitution of the United States, when it comes to decisions that impact the Commonwealth.