Lawmakers turn to Kan. Attorney Gen. to object to health care provisions

TOPEKA -- Four top lawmakers called on the Kansas attorney general, Thursday, to join attorneys general from 13 other states in raising legal objections to provisions of the health care bill approved by the United States Senate on Christmas Eve.

Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence; House Majority Leader Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell; Senate Vice President John Vratil, R-Leawood; and House Speaker Pro Tem Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe sent a letter to Attorney General Stephen N. Six asking him to join with 13 other state attorneys general who have raised constitutional objections to specific provisions in the Senate-passed health care bill. The 13 attorneys general have conveyed their concerns to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and have advised that they intend to ask courts to invalidate the unconstitutional provisions unless they are removed from the bill before it is given final approval.

The Kansas lawmakers cited the so-called "Nebraska compromise" in which the cost of expanded Medicaid eligibility in Nebraska is forever paid by taxpayers in other states, not in Nebraska. That provision was included to obtain the vote of Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson for the bill. They also raised concerns about the so-called "individual mandate" in the bill, which requires every American to purchase or otherwise obtain health insurance coverage.

The lawmakers said the time for the attorney general to act is now, not later, so that the legal analysis of the state attorneys could influence Congress's final deliberations on the bill.

"With luck and a little persuasion, perhaps a majority in Congress will come to its senses and conclude that our nation's health care can be reformed without disregarding the Constitution," they wrote. "But if they don't, then it will be up to you and to us to protect the Constitution we are sworn to uphold and to preserve the liberties of the Kansans we represent."