Federal courts issue conflicting rulings on legality of ObamaCare subsidies

WASHINGTON –  Two federal appeals court rulings put the issue of ObamaCare subsidies in limbo Tuesday, with one court invalidating some of them and the other upholding all of them. 
The first decision came Tuesday morning from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The panel, in a major blow to the law, ruled 2-1 that the IRS went too far in extending subsidies to those who buy insurance through the federally run exchange, known as HealthCare.gov. 
A separate federal appeals court -- the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals -- hours later issued its own ruling on a similar case that upheld the subsidies in their entirety. 
The conflicting rulings would typically fast-track the matter to the Supreme Court. However, it is likely that the administration will ask the D.C. appeals court to first convene all 11 judges to re-hear that case. 
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stressed Tuesday that different courts have reached different conclusions on the subsidy issue, and said the latest ruling against the subsidies “does not have any practical impact” at this point on the ability of people to get tax credits. The White House later said the D.C. decision was "undermined" by the Fourth Circuit decision. 
Still, the D.C. court ruling nevertheless strikes at the foundation of the law by challenging subsidies that millions of people obtained through the federally run exchange known as HealthCare.gov. 
The suit maintained that the language in ObamaCare actually restricts subsidies to state-run exchanges -- of which there are only 14 -- and does not authorize them to be given in the 36 states that use the federally run system.  
The court agreed.
“We reach this conclusion, frankly, with reluctance. At least until states that wish to can set up Exchanges, our ruling will likely have significant consequences both for the millions  of individuals receiving tax credits through federal Exchanges and for health insurance markets more broadly,” the ruling stated.  
The case, Halbig v. Burwell, is one of the first major legal challenges that cuts to the heart of the Affordable Care Act by going after the legality of massive federal subsidies and those who benefit from them.
The decision said the law "unambiguously restricts" the subsidies to insurance bought on state-run exchanges. 
The dissenting opinion, though, claimed political motivations were at play. “This case is about Appellants’ not-so-veiled attempt to gut the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ('ACA'),” the dissent stated. 
The ruling, though likely to be appealed, could threaten the entire foundation of the newly devised health care system. Nearly 90 percent of the federal exchange’s insurance enrollees were eligible for subsidies because of low or moderate incomes, and the outcome of the case could potentially leave millions without affordable health insurance.
“Today’s decision rightly holds the Obama administration accountable to the law,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a written statement adding, “… As it has on so many occasions, the Obama administration simply ignored the law and implemented its own policy instead.”
The next step for the Obama administration would be that they request a so-called en banc ruling, which means there would be a vote taken by all of the judges on the court. An appeals court can only overrule a decision made by a panel if the court is sitting en banc.
Earnest said the Department of Justice will likely appeal to the full D.C. Circuit Court and defended the administration’s position that Congress intended “all eligible Americans” to have access to the subsidies regardless of which entity set up the exchange.
“We are confident in the legal position that we have,” Earnest said.
Ron Pollack, founding executive director of Families USA, said in a written statement that the ruling “represents the high-water mark for Affordable Care Act opponents, but the water will recede very quickly.”
He added, “It will inevitably be placed on hold pending further proceedings; will probably be reheard by all of the 11-member active D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals members, who predictably will reverse it; and runs contrary to" the ruling from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. 
The appeals process could eventually lead to the U.S. Supreme Court deciding on the legality of the subsidies, but Pollack, whose group supports the law, believes that won’t happen.
Of the 11 judges that could rehear the case, seven are Democrats and four are Republicans.
Halbig v. Burwell, which previously had been called Halbig v. Sebelius, is one of four federal lawsuits that have been filed aimed at targeting the idea of tax credits and other subsidies afforded under ObamaCare.
A total of $1 trillion in subsidies is projected to be doled out over the next decade. 
A U.S. District Court previously sided with the Obama administration on Jan. 15.

Delta, US Airways halt flights to Israel due to instability

U.S. air carriers Delta Air Lines and US Airways, a unit of American Airlines Group , on Tuesday said they have halted flights to Israel to ensure passenger safety.

Delta said in a statement that it has suspended operations "until further notice" to and from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv and its hub at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. The Atlanta-based carrier said it was doing so in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration "to ensure the safety of our customers and employees."
Esther Castiel, who heads US Airways' operations in Tel Aviv, said the FAA had "issued a request not to travel to Israel. All U.S. carriers are stopping."
She added that it was not clear whether the travel halt was for one day or more.
The decision came after Hamas, the militant group that dominates in the Gaza Strip, and its allies fired more rockets into Israel, triggering sirens in Tel Aviv. One hit a town on the fringes of Ben-Gurion International Airport, lightly injuring two people, officials said.
United Airlines did not immediately return a request for comment.

Ain't it a Joke?

Judge tosses senator's ObamaCare lawsuit

MILWAUKEE –  A federal judge on Monday dismissed a U.S. senator's lawsuit challenging a requirement that congressional members and their staffs obtain government-subsidized health insurance through small business exchanges, saying the senator had no grounds to sue.
Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, filed the lawsuit in January after the Office of Personnel Management decided months earlier that lawmakers and their staffs should continue to receive health care benefits covering about 75 percent of their premium costs after leaving the health insurance program for federal workers.
Johnson said the decision would make him decide which staff members qualified for subsidized insurance, potentially creating conflict in his office. He also said it forced him to participate in a program that he believed was illegal and that it could make voters view him negatively because his staff received benefits the general public did not.
But U.S. District Judge William Griesbach said Johnson and a staff member who filed the lawsuit with him didn't have grounds to bring the suit.
Johnson's belief that subsidies provided to lawmakers and their staffs are illegal isn't a strong enough reason to disqualify him from the rule put in place under the Affordable Care Act, Griesbach said. The judge also said Johnson failed to show voters would view him negatively if his staff received subsidized insurance.
And, the judge said, Johnson could simply avoid the problem by failing to designate any employees as official congressional office staff, a classification that qualifies them for the benefit.
Johnson faulted Griesbach for dismissing the lawsuit on "the legal technicality of standing" and not fully considering his arguments.
"Americans increasingly — and correctly — believe that their government in Washington is out of control, out of touch and lawless," he said in a statement. "By its decision today, the court has chosen not to address the important constitutional issues at hand."
Johnson's spokeswoman, Melinda Whitemarsh Schnell, said he was discussing the decision with lawyers and deciding whether to appeal.
The White House responded to a request for comment Monday by referring to remarks White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest made the day Griesbach heard oral arguments in the case. Earnest noted then that even some Republicans didn't agree with Johnson's decision to sue.
"What the President believes is that the whole goal of the Affordable Care Act in the first place was to lower health care costs, to expand access to quality, affordable health insurance for every American, including those who were employed by small businesses," he said.
The Affordable Care Act approved by Congress includes provisions that say the federal government can offer congressional members and staffers only health care plans that come through an exchange. It was meant to end generous subsidies to lawmakers and force them and their staffs into the same situation as uninsured Americans.
Johnson argued that the OPM's decision essentially allowed the Obama administration to rewrite the law. He also said using small-business exchanges to serve congressional staffers constituted an illegal scheme because the federal government is a huge employer.
But he told reporters after oral arguments on July 7 that he had designated "a majority" of his 40 or so staffers to go through the small-business exchanges. He said he bought private insurance for himself outside the exchanges.

Israeli fighter planes hit homes and a high-rise tower in Gaza Monday and seven Israeli soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a firefight there as more violence overshadowed hope for peace negotiations.
Sirens wailed and loud explosions rocked the streets of Gaza as Israeli planes continued to strike homes and Hamas fired more rockets. 
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cairo Monday for a new round of negotiations to end two weeks of deadly fighting. 
Across Gaza, Israeli fighter planes hit homes and a high-rise tower, burying families in the rubble. The strike on the Gaza City tower brought down most of the building, killing 11 people -- including six members of the same family -- and wounding 40, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra.
Israeli tanks, meanwhile, shelled a hospital in central Gaza, killing four people and wounding dozens as the daily death toll surpassed 100 for a second day. Israel said the shelling targeted rockets hidden near the compound, and accused militants of using civilians as shields.
At least 565 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,600 wounded in the past two weeks, al-Kidra said.
On the Israeli side, seven more soldiers were killed in clashes with Gaza fighters Monday, bringing the military death toll to 25 -- more than twice as many as in Israel's last Gaza ground war in 2009. One of those killed was reported to be a lieutenant colonel.
A press statement issued by the U.N. Security Council expressed "serious concern at the escalation of violence," called for the protection of civilians under international humanitarian law, and said it was troubled by the growing number of casualties. 
Kerry said Sunday that the U.S. supports the Egyptian proposal for a halt to the hostilities that Israel accepted and Hamas rejected last week. Hamas remains deeply suspicious of the motives of the Egyptian government, which has banned the Muslim Brotherhood, a region-wide group to which Hamas also belongs.
Two Islamic insurgents snuck into southern Israel from Gaza Monday, using one of a network of Hamas tunnels aimed at infiltrating the country. Roads were closed and residents were warned to stay indoors in the morning until the Israeli military gave the all-clear, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.  Monday marked the 14^th day of what Israel is calling “Operation Protective Edge.”
Israel's Ambassador to the U.N., Ron Prosnor, defended the Israeli military's actions, saying that Israel had been forced to defend itself against rocket attacks launched by the Islamic militant group Hamas and adding that Israel's military was exercising restraint. 
Hamas and its allies fired multiple missiles across southern and central Israel, and heavy fighting in the north and east of Gaza persisted, Reuters reported Monday.
Despite the rising death toll, there was no sign of a decrease in the violence. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Monday he is prepared to continue the offensive "as long as necessary" to halt rocket fire and other attacks from Gaza on Israelis.
Hamas says that before halting fire, it wants guarantees that Israel and Egypt will significantly ease a seven-year border blockade of Gaza.
"The resistance (Hamas) will not respond to any pressure," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a text message, in a reference to the renewed cease-fire efforts.
Israel launched a ground offensive late last week, preceded by a 10-day air campaign. Air and artillery strikes have targeted Gaza's border areas in an attempt to destroy tunnels and rocket launchers. The Jewish state accepted an Egyptian call for an unconditional cease-fire last week, but resumed its offensive after Hamas rejected the proposal.
Israeli tank shells struck a hospital in central Gaza on Monday, a health official and a doctor at the facility said. The health official said the shells killed at least four people and wounded 60, including 30 medical staff. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
Al-Kidra said 12 shells hit the Al Aqsa hospital in the town of Deir el-Balah. He said the shells landed in the administration building, the intensive care unit and the surgery department.
Live footage on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV station showed wounded being moved on gurneys into the emergency department.
"There is still shelling against the hospital," Fayez Zidane, a doctor at the hospital said. He said he found bits of a rocket, presumably from one of the projectiles.
Sunday marked the single deadliest day in Gaza since the conflict erupted on July 8, with more than 100 Palestinians killed, according to Palestinian health officials. At least 65 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in Shijaiyah, while thousands of terrified Palestinian civilians fled the devastated area, which Israel says is a major source for rocket fire against its civilians.
Among the Israeli dead were two American-born IDF soldiers: California-born Max Steinberg, 24, and Texas native Sean Carmeli, 21.
Hamas militants tried to sneak into Israel through two tunnels early Monday. The Israeli military said 10 infiltrators were killed after being detected and targeted by Israeli aircraft.  Hamas fighters have persistently tried to infiltrate Israel in the past week through a vast network of hidden tunnels, aiming to attack villages and army encampments that dot the border area.
Hamas also fired 50 more rockets at Israel, including two at Tel Aviv, causing no injuries or damage. Since the start of the Israeli operation, Hamas has fired almost 2,000 rockets at Israel.
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri in Gaza claimed his group had captured an Israeli soldier Sunday. It named the man as Shaul Aron and showed his ID papers, but did not release any picture of him alive, Reuters reported. An announcement on Gaza TV of the soldier's capture set off celebration in the streets of West Bank.   
Israel's U.N. ambassador denied the claim, and Israel's military said it was still investigating. ``We still cannot rule it out,'' military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said Monday. The capture of an Israeli soldier would increase pressure on Netanyahu to intensify the military campaign.
Also Monday, an Israeli airstrike hit the home of the Siyam family in southern Gaza, near the town of Rafah, said the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The strike killed 10 people, including four young children and a 9-month-old baby girl, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra.
``This is not the time to talk of a ceasefire,'' Gilad Erdan, communications minister and a member of Netanyahu's inner security cabinet told reporters Monday. ``We must complete the mission, and the mission cannot end until the threat of the tunnels is removed,'' he Erdan said, according to a Reuters report.

Time expiring for Congress to vote on Obama's $3.7B emergency request for border crisis

Congress has only a few days left before August recess to approve President Obama’s request for an additional $3.7 billion for the border crisis, with no scheduled voting dates and little apparent optimism for passage.
The House and Senate Appropriations committees, where the first key votes will take place, each said Monday that no date has been set.
The Republican-led House is expected to pose the biggest hurdle for the president’s emergency-spending request, amid tens of thousands of children and others from Central America attempting to cross the southwestern U.S. border in recent months.
Kentucky GOP Rep. Hal Rogers, chairman of the lower chamber’s appropriations committee, has already said Obama is asking for “too much” and that non-emergency needs are either covered in fiscal 2015 spending bills or could be handled through Congress’ routine appropriations process.
Rogers also has indicated his committee is trying to “pull together” an emergency package, but details have yet to emerge.
House Speaker John Boehner last week said he didn’t have “as much optimism as I’d like to have” about passing an emergency plan before the recess to deal with the border crisis.
The House has eight working days remaining before the break begins August 1.
In the Democrat-controlled Senate, Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski, chairman of that chamber’s appropriations committee, indicated last week that she wants Congress to pass the emergency, supplemental request.
Mikulski has -- like Obama and most other Capitol Hill lawmakers --framed the request in terms of a “humanitarian” need or crisis, with Democrats and Republicans essentially arguing that efforts to amend the White House request is tantamount to holding the children hostage.
“The crisis actually begins in Central America where brutal, violent gangs … are trying to recruit boys into organized crime, drug smuggling and human trafficking and girls into human trafficking and other just dangerous and repugnant circumstances,” Mikulski said Wednesday. “I hope that in passing the appropriations. … We need to meet these urgent humanitarian needs.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid suggested last week that GOP-led concerns about border security are exaggerated and said “radical Republicans would rather hold these kids ransom,” than consider reasonable solutions.
On Sunday, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz said that the way to help the children is to "eliminate the magnet,” which is Obama's 2012 executive memo that makes some young illegal immigrants eligible for deferred deportation.
Should Congress fail to pass the request before recess, members could avoid the issue until after the November mid-terms, with both parties making failed passage an election issue on which to blame the other.
Beyond the spending amount, the bill also could get held up by a 2008 law that allows children from non-bordering countries to enter the United States legally.
The law was intended to help victims of human trafficking but appears to be contributing to the current crisis by ensuring court hearings for the children now arriving from Central America.
In practice, the process often allows the children to stay in the United States for years as their cases wend their way through the badly backlogged immigration court system. And oftentimes they never show up for their court dates.
Obama administration officials along with Republican lawmakers want to change the law so that Central American children can be treated the same way as Mexican minors, who can be turned around quickly by Border Patrol agents.
But Democrats and advocacy groups say such a change would put the kids in jeopardy.
“We will oppose this link even if it means the funding bill goes down,” said Kevin Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. If the changes go through, “They’ll be sent back to their persecutors with no help whatsoever, and possibly to their deaths.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

High-ranking officer among 7 Israeli forces killed in Gaza fighting

A lieutenant general was among seven Israeli soldiers killed in a firefight in Gaza Monday, as more violence overshadowed hope for peace negotiations in the Jewish state.  
Sirens wailed and loud explosions rocked the streets of Gaza as Israeli planes continued to strike homes and Hamas fired more rockets. 
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cairo Monday for a new round of negotiations to end two weeks of deadly fighting.  A barrage of rocket attacks and days of ground assaults have left at least 27 Israelis and 550 Palestinians dead, and tens of thousands driven from their homes in Gaza.  
A press statement issued by the U.N. Security Council expressed "serious concern at the escalation of violence," called for the protection of civilians under international humanitarian law, and said it was troubled by the growing number of casualties. 
Kerry said Sunday that the U.S. supports the Egyptian proposal for a halt to the hostilities that Israel accepted and Hamas rejected last week. Hamas remains deeply suspicious of the motives of the Egyptian government, which has banned the Muslim Brotherhood, a region-wide group to which Hamas also belongs.
Two Islamic insurgents snuck into southern Israel from Gaza Monday, using one of a network of Hamas tunnels aimed at infiltrating the country. Roads were closed and residents were warned to stay indoors in the morning until the Israeli military gave the all-clear, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.  Monday marked the 14^th day of what Israel is calling “Operation Protective Edge.”
Israel's Ambassador to the U.N., Ron Prosnor, defended the Israeli military's actions, saying that Israel had been forced to defend itself against rocket attacks launched by the Islamic militant group Hamas and adding that Israel's military was exercising restraint. 
Hamas and its allies fired multiple missiles across southern and central Israel, and heavy fighting in the north and east of Gaza persisted, Reuters reported Monday.
Despite the rising death toll, there was no sign of a decrease in the violence. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Monday he is prepared to continue the offensive "as long as necessary" to halt rocket fire and other attacks from Gaza on Israelis.
Hamas says that before halting fire, it wants guarantees that Israel and Egypt will significantly ease a seven-year border blockade of Gaza.
"The resistance (Hamas) will not respond to any pressure," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a text message, in a reference to the renewed cease-fire efforts.
Israel launched a ground offensive late last week, preceded by a 10-day air campaign. Air and artillery strikes have targeted Gaza's border areas in an attempt to destroy tunnels and rocket launchers. The Jewish state accepted an Egyptian call for an unconditional cease-fire last week, but resumed its offensive after Hamas rejected the proposal.
Israeli tank shells struck a hospital in central Gaza on Monday, a health official and a doctor at the facility said. The health official said the shells killed at least four people and wounded 60, including 30 medical staff. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
Health official Ashraf al-Kidra said 12 shells hit the Al Aqsa hospital in the town of Deir el-Balah. He said the shells landed in the administration building, the intensive care unit and the surgery department.
Live footage on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV station showed wounded being moved on gurneys into the emergency department.
"There is still shelling against the hospital," Fayez Zidane, a doctor at the hospital said. He said he found bits of a rocket, presumably from one of the projectiles.
Sunday marked the single deadliest day in Gaza since the conflict erupted on July 8, with more than 100 Palestinians killed, according to Palestinian health officials. At least 65 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in Shijaiyah, while thousands of terrified Palestinian civilians fled the devastated area, which Israel says is a major source for rocket fire against its civilians.
Among the Israeli dead were two American-born IDF soldiers: California-born Max Steinberg, 24, and Texas native Sean Carmeli, 21.
Hamas militants tried to sneak into Israel through two tunnels early Monday. The Israeli military said 10 infiltrators were killed after being detected and targeted by Israeli aircraft.  Hamas fighters have persistently tried to infiltrate Israel in the past week through a vast network of hidden tunnels, aiming to attack villages and army encampments that dot the border area.
Hamas also fired 50 more rockets at Israel, including two at Tel Aviv, causing no injuries or damage. Since the start of the Israeli operation, Hamas has fired almost 2,000 rockets at Israel.
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri in Gaza claimed his group had captured an Israeli soldier Sunday. It named the man as Shaul Aron and showed his ID papers, but did not release any picture of him alive, Reuters reported. An announcement on Gaza TV of the soldier's capture set off celebration in the streets of West Bank.   
Israel's U.N. ambassador denied the claim, and Israel's military said it was still investigating. ``We still cannot rule it out,'' military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said Monday. The capture of an Israeli soldier would increase pressure on Netanyahu to intensify the military campaign.
Also Monday, an Israeli airstrike hit the home of the Siyam family in southern Gaza, near the town of Rafah, said the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The strike killed 10 people, including four young children and a 9-month-old baby girl, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra.
``This is not the time to talk of a ceasefire,'' Gilad Erdan, communications minister and a member of Netanyahu's inner security cabinet told reporters Monday. ``We must complete the mission, and the mission cannot end until the threat of the tunnels is removed,'' he Erdan said, according to a Reuters report.