Apparently the new republican argument against reforming our current system is that it is unconstitutional. This idea was first brought up by Michele Bachmann (R-Crazy):
It is not within our power as members of Congress, it’s not within the enumerated powers of the Constitution, for us to design and create a national takeover of health care. Nor is it within our ability to be able to delegate that responsibility to the executive.
But she's Warong, as Think Progress pointed out:
Had Bachmann bothered to read Article I of the Constitution before going on Fox, she would have learned that Congress has the power to "lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises" and to "provide for....the general welfare of the United States." Rather than itemizing specific subject matters, such as health care, which Congress is allowed to spend money on, the framers chose instead to give Congress a broad mandate to spend money in ways that promote the "general welfare."
Yesterday Rep. Virginia Foxx picked up the argument:
FOXX: The Constitution doesn’t grant a right to health care, and most of us are living as much by the Constitution as we can. It also doesn’t give the federal government the authority to deal with health care. As you may know, the 10th amendment, it says if it isn’t mentioned in the Constitution to be done by the federal government, it’s left to the states or the people. [...]
I think one of the problems we have in this country right now is the fact that the federal government is trying to do too much. We need to leave things to the states and the localities. ... And unfortunately, we are distracting ourselves from looking after the defense of this nation because we are dealing with issues that should, by right, be the state and individual’s.
Rep. Foxx also seems to think that fixing health care is just a DISTRACTION. Nevermind the fact that most of the country believes that fixing the health care system is important. Indeed, health care is a big reason why President Obama defeated the McFailin' campaign last fall.
I, for one, do not find this argument particularly persuasive, especially not when it's coming from people in the same party as the previous administration which had no problem with abusing the Constitution in any way it felt it could get away with. This is just the latest in a long list of things the GOP is doing in an effort to derail health care reform.
While I understand the desire to make it look like a bipartisan effort, I really hope the Democrats in Congress wake up when they get off of their vacation and unite among themselves to get it passed. There are no excuses this time. They have the votes if they just get together for once.