Five powerful Democratic House committee chairs have joined forces to demand the Trump administration provide all the documentation related to its refusal to defend the Affordable Care Act and its urging a federal court to invalidate the law.
"The Department owes Congress and the public an explanation as to why it refuses to enforce the law," Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, and Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott wrote to Attorney General Bill Barr. They've also demanded documents from White House counsel Pat Cipollone, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma. In the letter to Barr, they write that the Justice Department's action calling for the elimination of the law a "sudden and significant reversal" that breaks the government's precedent of defending its own laws. "Congress is entitled to understand the communications that took place and pressures that were applied to achieve these troubling results, including whether this decision was in any way related to [a] plan to replace the ACA," the chairmen wrote in their letter to Cipollone.
Judging by the disdain Barr clearly holds for Congress, on full display at Tuesday's Appropriations Committee hearing, the chairs will not be satisfied. Barr contemptuously dealt with questions from committee members about the lawsuit, insinuating to Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright that he is unconcerned about the consequences of the suit. "I'm just saying that if you think it's such an outrageous position, you have nothing to worry about," Barr told Cartwright. "Let the courts do their job."
Barr was no less dickish in an exchange with Michigan's Rep. Brenda Lawrence, refusing to acknowledge whether his job was to uphold the law and act in the nation's best interests, or to do what Trump tells him to. It was much the same dismissive attitude he displayed toward Florida's Rep. Charlie Crist, with Barr refusing to answer his concerns. "I'm a lawyer, I'm not in charge of health care," he told Crist, essentially washing his hands of the issue.