A jubilant US President Barack Obama signed the most sweeping US social policy legislation in decades into law on Tuesday, putting his name on a healthcare bill that will help shape his legacy and the Democrats’ chances of holding on to power in Congress.
“We have now just enshrined, as soon as I sign this bill, the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their healthcare,” Obama said in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, with Democratic members of Congress and other supporters cheering.
Fourteen states quickly filed suit in federal court to challenge the law, arguing that it undercuts states’ rights, and congressional Republicans, who had unanimously opposed the bill, vowed to keep fighting it.
Designed to revamp the US$2.5 trillion US healthcare industry, the law will extend health insurance to 32 million Americans who currently have none. It will bar practices like insurers refusing coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions, expand the Medicaid government health insurance program for the poor and impose new taxes on the wealthy.
The law will require people to obtain health coverage, impose fines on those who don’t and provide federal subsidies to help low and middle-income families afford the insurance.
Republicans fought bitterly but failed to prevent Democrats in Congress from passing the bill on Sunday. Republicans hope public skepticism over the measure will help them regain control of Congress in November’s elections.
The Senate began debating a package of changes aimed at improving the US$940 billion overhaul. Republicans have vowed to fight those changes, but Democratic leaders say they are confident they have the votes to pass the package.
Democrats are using special budget rules that allow a simple 51 vote majority to pass the package instead of the 60 usually needed in the 100-member Senate to approve controversial bills. Republicans have vowed a flurry of amendments to alter the package and force it back to the House of Representatives for another vote.
State attorneys general — all but one of them Republicans — filed two separate suits challenging the law on the grounds that it violates states’ rights enshrined in the US Constitution. Thirteen sued in Florida minutes after Obama signed the bill. Virginia brought its own case.
The US Justice Department will “vigorously defend” the new healthcare law and is “confident that this statute is constitutional,” spokesman Charles Miller said in a statement.
Critics said Congress lacks authority to require people to purchase health insurance.
“It forces people to do something — in the sense of buying a health care policy or paying a penalty, a tax or a fine — that simply the Constitution does not allow Congress to do,” said Florida Attorney-General Bill McCollum, a Republican who is running for governor.
Republicans vowed to make the new law a major campaign issue in the upcoming congressional elections.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Republican campaign slogan for November would be “repeal and replace,” acknowledging that many feel that at least some change is needed to the current costly healthcare system.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese