NRLC Blasts Obama Administration’s Final Rule, Charging that the Government is “Falsifying” What the Law Says

WASHINGTON (October 1, 2013) – The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of state right-to-life organizations, blasted the final rule issued yesterday by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) with regards to the health plans that Members of Congress and certain congressional staff will buy on a new SHOP Exchange.

In a September 9 release, NRLC said, “the Constitution does not confer on any President a retroactive, line-item veto, by which he may arbitrarily nullify specific provisions of duly enacted laws.”  Having now seen the final rule, NRLC Senior Legislative Counsel Susan T. Muskett, J.D. warned: “The Constitution does not grant the President the authority to retroactively rewrite the laws.”

NRLC charges the Obama Administration with “falsifying” what the Smith Amendment statutorily prohibits with regards to OPM’s activities.  (The Smith Amendment is a limitation amendment on OPM’s annual appropriations bill).  In NRLC’s view, any OPM director who implements this White House-directed policy should face future prosecution under the Anti-Deficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341.  (The Anti-Deficiency Act is a longstanding federal law that provides, in certain circumstances, civil and criminal liability for expenditure of congressional funds outside the limits set by Congress).

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