This week, U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe made his first tour of the 4th Congressional District since taking office last month. Between stops in Greenville and Paris, Ratcliffe visited KETR’s studios in Commerce.
Immigration policy conflict tied into Homeland Security funding
While here, he discussed a struggle that lawmakers are expected to resume when they return to work on Monday. It involves a controversial provision that’s attached to the bill that authorizes continued funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The House passed a bill to keep the agency funded in January. It also attached to that same bill a measure de-funding President Obama’s executive order on immigration. In the Senate, Democrats have objected to that provision in the bill. Democrats have criticized Republicans for tying a divisive measure into a bill that performs an essential function of government. Republicans, including Ratcliffe, say that they’re obligated to do whatever must be done to defeat an order that they see not just as bad policy, but also unconstitutional.
Federal, state lawmakers watching Obamacare case in Supreme Court
Ratcliffe’s term marks the first time since 1980 that someone other than Ralph Hall has represented Northeast Texas in Congress. When asked what concerns voters presented to him during his stops at cities across the region, Ratcliffe said that many expressed continued opposition to the Affordable Care Act. In the House of Representatives, Ratcliffe has co-sponsored a resolution that calls for a repeal of Obamacare and lists several policy alternatives. Over in the judicial branch, there’s an Obamacare-related case before the Supreme Court that could affect people in Texas. Many states, including Texas, did not accept the opportunity to set up state health insurance exchanges that was provided by the Affordable Care Act. So, Texans wanting to purchase private insurance through Obamacare used a federal option. Depending on the high court’s decision, Texans currently paying for private insurance with federal subsidies provided through Obamacare would lose that money. The subsidies are currently given in the form of federal tax credits.
The Texas Tribune reports that one private insurance group filed a friend of the court brief supporting the tax credits. The statement said that without those credits, those low-income customers would have to drop their insurance. The brief went on to predict that health insurance companies would have to raise premiums on all customers in order to make up for the lost income. Ratcliffe said that he hopes the tax credits are revoked by the court’s decision, but emphasized that his focus remains on fighting Obamacare in Congress. Meanwhile, in Austin, some Democratic lawmakers hope to avert fallout from a ruling against the credits by setting up a state health insurance exchange, another Affordable Care Act provision that Texas declined to adopt. Grand Prairie Democrat Chris Turner has filed two bills to that effect.