Trump Is Right to End Insurance Subsidies, Wrong on Restricting the Press

[EasyAce]

The Constitution matters more than individual policies or political gain.
By Jay Cost
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/452692/trump-illegal-insurance-subsidies-constitution-requires-ending-them

These days, it is hard to be a constitutionalist. Our system of government is under attack from both
the left and the right.

Progressives are gnashing their teeth over President Trump’s executive order cutting federal subsidies to
insurance companies. This, they argue, will raise the costs of insurance and perhaps facilitate the collapse
of the Obamacare marketplaces. What they overlook is that the subsidies were almost certain to be struck
down by the Supreme Court, and for very good reason. Under the constitutional order, it is Congress that
is tasked with appropriating money, and President Obama had no right to offer the subsidies in the first
place.

Some conservatives, meanwhile, are cheering over President Trump’s recent attacks on the press. Last
week, he tweeted, “Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be
challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!” Never mind that the national networks do
not themselves possess broadcast licenses — instead, local affiliates do. This demonstrates profound
disrespect for the First Amendment right to a free press, which Trump has never been a particularly
stout advocate of. During the presidential primaries last year, after all, he talked about tightening up
libel laws against journalists reporting on celebrities.

What both progressives and conservatives are doing is sacrificing a commitment to the rules of our
political system for a short-term policy or for political gain. This is incredibly short-sighted. It seems
as though both sides could use a refresher course on why the Constitution — and the rules of order
it establishes — are so important . . .

. . . [T]o the liberals who are upset about Trump’s executive order to end subsidies to insurance
companies, I say: Get over it. President Obama should never have ordered the Treasury to provide
these subsidies in the first place, given that Congress expressly declined to appropriate the money
to pay for the subsidies and that only Congress can appropriate funds. Congress should have written
a better law. If you want the law improved in a specific way, then do the hard work of convincing
your fellow citizens to elect politicians who will do it. Don’t go trampling on the principle of separated
powers. It is too important.

And to the conservatives who are cheering Trump’s suggestion of restricting the press, I say: You are
playing a dangerous game. I agree that the mainstream media are biased, but I do not want the
authority of the state used against media outlets. You shouldn’t, either. If we allow the government
to pick and choose what is “fair” reporting and what is “biased,” it will not be long until the state
comes after conservative media, too.