Star Tribune: Dayton goes unilateral on health care
His inauguration was just days ago, but already Gov. Mark Dayton has signed a sweeping executive order that will affect our state for decades to come.
On Wednesday, our new governor gave his approval to an expansion of medical assistance that will cost Minnesotans $384 million between now and 2014.
As troubling as the substance of this action is the manner in which it was done.
State Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, asked Dayton to hold off. I, too, wrote a letter urging the governor to wait.
While Dayton may believe he was given the authority to unilaterally approve this expansion, the truth is that there are serious questions about where the authority actually lies.
Did the last Legislature have the power to hand off authority that should have rested with the new Legislature? Dayton went ahead anyway and pushed through this expansion.
The governor's action is representative of an all-too-common theme that we heard often from Democrats in Washington about their health care legislation. They forced legislation at a needlessly rapid pace.
Dayton is buying into the same idea. Obamacare -- all 2,000 pages of it -- contains fundamental and costly changes to the existing health care system.
Out of due diligence, Obamacare should have been subject to proper opportunity for scrutiny and review by the American people.
But former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw transparency to the wayside and pushed a bill through the House, promising that we'd find out what was in it after it was passed.
Over the months since Obamacare became law, we have learned about employers dropping health insurance coverage, about insurance premiums skyrocketing, about escalating health care costs and about jobs being lost because employers are reluctant to hire in the wake of Obamacare's pending mandate.
Predicting disastrous consequences to a select few, the White House even granted waivers for unions and corporations finding favor with President Obama.
These are the consequences of badly flawed legislation that was hurried through a bitterly partisan process in Washington.
Here in Minnesota, Dayton had a great opportunity this week to emerge as a leader willing to work on a bipartisan level with the new Legislature.
Returning and new members alike have presented their positions on health care reform for Minnesota, and the governor should have heard them out. Together they could have worked to find solutions that don't burden the taxpayers in our state.
This expansion will ultimately shackle our state to an untenable path. Over time, the cost to Minnesota's budget will be crippling as it's been in states like New York and Massachusetts.
By signing this executive order, Gov. Dayton has done a disservice to our state's voters by ignoring the lawmakers who were sent to St. Paul to represent them.
They were ready to work in a bipartisan way to meet the needs of Minnesotans without adding to our state's $6 billion deficit.
Michele Bachmann, a Republican, represents Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District in the U.S. House.
(Originally Published by Star Tribune)
On Wednesday, our new governor gave his approval to an expansion of medical assistance that will cost Minnesotans $384 million between now and 2014.
As troubling as the substance of this action is the manner in which it was done.
State Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, asked Dayton to hold off. I, too, wrote a letter urging the governor to wait.
While Dayton may believe he was given the authority to unilaterally approve this expansion, the truth is that there are serious questions about where the authority actually lies.
Did the last Legislature have the power to hand off authority that should have rested with the new Legislature? Dayton went ahead anyway and pushed through this expansion.
The governor's action is representative of an all-too-common theme that we heard often from Democrats in Washington about their health care legislation. They forced legislation at a needlessly rapid pace.
Dayton is buying into the same idea. Obamacare -- all 2,000 pages of it -- contains fundamental and costly changes to the existing health care system.
Out of due diligence, Obamacare should have been subject to proper opportunity for scrutiny and review by the American people.
But former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw transparency to the wayside and pushed a bill through the House, promising that we'd find out what was in it after it was passed.
Over the months since Obamacare became law, we have learned about employers dropping health insurance coverage, about insurance premiums skyrocketing, about escalating health care costs and about jobs being lost because employers are reluctant to hire in the wake of Obamacare's pending mandate.
Predicting disastrous consequences to a select few, the White House even granted waivers for unions and corporations finding favor with President Obama.
These are the consequences of badly flawed legislation that was hurried through a bitterly partisan process in Washington.
Here in Minnesota, Dayton had a great opportunity this week to emerge as a leader willing to work on a bipartisan level with the new Legislature.
Returning and new members alike have presented their positions on health care reform for Minnesota, and the governor should have heard them out. Together they could have worked to find solutions that don't burden the taxpayers in our state.
This expansion will ultimately shackle our state to an untenable path. Over time, the cost to Minnesota's budget will be crippling as it's been in states like New York and Massachusetts.
By signing this executive order, Gov. Dayton has done a disservice to our state's voters by ignoring the lawmakers who were sent to St. Paul to represent them.
They were ready to work in a bipartisan way to meet the needs of Minnesotans without adding to our state's $6 billion deficit.
Michele Bachmann, a Republican, represents Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District in the U.S. House.
(Originally Published by Star Tribune)
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