Tom Reed
WASHINGTON — All eyes are on the U.S. Supreme Court today with justices are expected to issue opinions on several key cases. As the court enters what is expected to be its final week, President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul is at the top of its list of undecided cases.
Southern Tier Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) says lawmakers in Washington are anticipating a decision that goes against the Affordable Care Act, although it may only be one provision.
“I am hopeful that the Supreme Court will rule Obama-care unconstitutional and that it will repeal the entire law from page 1 to the end,” Reed said on June 19 during his weekly media conference call. “There’s a lot of speculation as to what the court will do. Whether it will uphold the law in total, whether it will repeal the law in total, or whether it will do a piece-meal approach to it and a lot of people speculate that the individual mandate will be the provision that is struck down as unconstitutional. If that’s the case, then we’ll just have to deal with what’s on the table.”
Reed adds that the case has brought the discussion of healthcare back to the forefront in Washington. He says he believes that a conversation does need to take place, involving a patient-centered based reform of the healthcare industry, rather than going “all in” with a plan similar to the one before the Supreme Court. He says that is a course of action small business owners throughout his district and the rest of the country are also encouraging him and other member of congress to pursue…
“The uncertainty and the regulatory burdens that have come with Obama-care have caused jobs to be lost,” said Reed. “We have heard it on front-line conversations that we have had with small business that are actually not crossing over the 50-employee threshold just because they want to avoid stepping into the quagmire of Obama-care.”
Congressman Reed currently represents the 29th New York congressional district, which covers much of the Southern Tier, including Cattaraugus County. He is also running for re-election in the newly drawn 23rd Congressional District, which includes Chautauqua County.
In addition to the healthcare case, the court also still has to decide cases on Arizona’s immigration policy, lying about military medals, juvenile sentencing and real estate kickbacks.
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