A new story by reporter Nate Madden at Conservative Review reveals that Senator Rand Paul may have not just voted no but actively led the opposition to the effort by Senator David Vitter (R-La.), chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee, to subpoena the false documents in which the House and Senate claimed to each have less than 50 employees.
In his defense, Paul’s office gave Madden the following statement:
“Senator Paul opposes allowing Congress to exempt themselves from any legislation. To that end, yesterday, he reintroduced his proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit Congress from passing any law that exempts themselves. Senator Paul prefers this option over a partisan cross-examination of Congressional staff.”
Setting aside for a moment the fact that such a constitutional amendment has zero chance of being approved by two thirds of the House and Senate and ratified by three quarters of the states any time soon, it would have no bearing on the actual fraud being investigated: the false certification of the House and Senate as small businesses with less than 50 employees each, even though 13,700 employees have in fact signed up.
A long-time conservative Senate staffer with expertise in health care gave us permission to share his analysis of Paul’s statement anonymously:
“That’s kind of a pathetic response from Rand Paul.
“Does Rand Paul, or at least his aide, understand that the proposed solution of a Constitutional Amendment would do absolutely, positively nothing with respect to Congress ignoring the language of a duly enacted statute in order to create a carve-out from the law in the form of special treatment for Congress?
“Congress did not, as the Paul aide suggests, pass a law exempting itself from ObamaCare. ObamaCare is clear. It includes Section 1312 which provides that Congress was subject to (not exempt from) ObamaCare. So the case at hand does not in any way involve a ‘law’ that exempts Congress from anything. Rather, it was executive fiat in collaboration with Congressional leaders of both parties that created a situation where laws were enacted but they are now being ignored. Accordingly, the Rand Paul Constitutional Amendment might require Section 1312 in ObamaCare but, like today, it would not stop the Office of Personnel Management from implementing the law in a manner inconsistent with its clear meaning.
“My belief is that Paul’s vote is perhaps the most disappointing of all. First, as a man who seems to articulate adherence to ‘first principles’ I would expect that he, of all Senators, would understand that when both the Executive and Judicial branch conspire to ignore the laws, America becomes a nation not of laws but of men and that is something the founding fathers warned against. Second, as a Senator pushing for the transparency of the Federal Reserve it seems a little more than hypocritical that he would push transparency in the Federal government but then draw the line to oppose transparency when it involves his branch of government. That’s kind of Obama-esque, actually.”
American Commitment strongly urges Senator Paul to reconsider his position and support Chairman Vitter’s efforts to investigate Congress’s false small business declaration. You can help by clicking here to Tweet Senator Paul directly.
We will continue supporting all of Senator Vitter’s efforts to get Congress and their staff to abide by the law. You can help us by writing to your senators and House member here.
Rand Paul’s Weak Excuse for Hiding Obamacare Fraud
