House Republicans released a report Thursday arguing that certain payments being made by under Obamacare are illegal and violate the Constitution.
Republicans allege that that the administration is unconstitutionally making ObamaCare’s “cost sharing reduction” payments to insurance companies without a congressional appropriation.
The report, compiled by the House Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee, claims that the administration initially recognized that it did not have the authority to make these payments.
A 2012 memo from the Treasury Department to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is included in the report, stated that “there is currently no appropriation to Treasury or to anyone else, for purposes of the cost-sharing payments.”
According to the report, the administration submitted a request to Congress for an appropriation for the program in 2013, but this request was later withdrawn because the IRS had concerns about the legal authority for the payments.
The report alleges that the administration has spent more than $7 billion on Obamacare without congressional approval.
The report also accuses the Obama administration of obstructing its investigation by failing to provide documents even after subpoenas were issued.
A federal judge decided back in May that federal health care law's cost sharing payments were being made unconstitutionally, a legal decision sure to be fought all the way to the Supreme Court.