By aditya @Adobe Stock
A Threat to Liberty: Twisting and Subverting Laws
To celebrate Independence Day, we should reflect on the Declaration of Independence and the rights and freedoms we enjoy thanks to our Founders. “Dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal,” gave us the opportunity and ability to not only mend our every flaw, but to safeguard our rights, Brad Wenstrup advises readers in NRO.
A Call to Action
Our freedoms and rights, guaranteed by our Founders and the Almighty, allow us to do so.
Celebrate!
An army of federal bureaucrats have usurped the power our Founders gave “we the people” through their representatives, continues Mr. Wenstrup.
Federal agencies have slowly seized the powers granted to Congress and the American people over the years by issuing regulations that distort the clear meaning of our laws and repeatedly dodging congressional oversight. This rule by executive fiat threatens the rights and freedoms of our innovators, small businesses, energy industry, hunters and fishermen, patients and physicians, and all Americans.
The No Surprises Act:
Congress passed the No Surprises Act, a bipartisan bill to provide patients with price transparency and remove the financial burden of surprise out-of-network medical bills. In direct violation of the law that we wrote, the Biden administration and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) implemented rule-making that enriches insurance companies — exactly what we legislated against.
While courts have upheld Congress’ intent in the No Surprises Act, the legal process is costing physicians their practices and patients access to health care.
The judicial system is being used as a tool to expand “agency power an subvert the Founders’ intention for lawmaking to originate in Congress with the people’s representatives.”
Please explain the ramifications of the Chevron deference, Mr. Wenstrup:
Under the Chevron deference, the Supreme Court created a legal test requiring courts to defer to agency interpretations if Congress had not spoken directly to the precise issue at question. This doctrine has given agencies the green light to reinterpret laws passed by Congress, twisting their meaning to meet the goals of the executive branch. Fortunately, the Supreme Court just ruled to limit the overreaching authorities of the agencies, returning Article 1 authorities back to the hands of the elected representatives of the people.
Brad Wenstrup also reminds readers how the Supreme Court created a legal test requiring courts to defer to agency interpretations if Congress had not spoken directly to the precise issue at question.
This doctrine has given agencies the green light to reinterpret laws passed by Congress, twisting their meaning to meet the goals of the executive branch.
Fortunately, the Supreme Court just ruled to limit the overreaching authorities of the agencies, returning Article 1 authorities back to the hands of the elected representatives of the people.
Agencies can be subject-matter experts to advise Congress, but lawmaking must begin and end in Congress. The laws we pass should not be twisted and subverted via the supposed expertise of unelected bureaucrats in the administrative state, who are accountable to no one. Our Founders were wise to reserve the power of lawmaking to only one branch of government: the legislative branch.
Recently, HHS refused to answer questions on its pandemic actions until we issued a subpoena. Employees of the federal government, like Dr. Anthony Fauci’s former top aide Dr. David Morens seemingly face little to no consequences for serious misconduct and illegal activity.
Who Funds Federal Agencies?
Unethical laws seem to be par for the course in US Federal agencies, and, as Mr. Wenstrup doesn’t have to remind us: American taxpayers fund federal agencies. Congress must reassert the powers the Founders gave us and hold agencies accountable to transgressions on our Freedom …
If (agencies) do not follow the law, Congress should withhold funding and agencies should expect retribution. If agents of the federal government violate the law, they should regret it.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R., OH) is a doctor, Army Reserve officer, Iraq War veteran, and small business owner.
