(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) told CNSNews.com that Congress has the authority to force individual Americans to buy health insurance because the U.S. Constitution "charges Congress with the health and well-being of the people."The words "health" and "well-being" do not appear anywhere in the Constitution.
The Congressional Budget Office has determined that in the entire history of the United States the federal government has never mandated that Americans buy any good or service. Both the House and Senate health care bills, however, include provisions that require all legal residents of the U.S. to purchase health insurance, a provision whose constitutionality has been qiuestioned by, among others, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
At a press conference on Capitol Hill, CNSNews.com asked Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Blanche Lincoln the following question: "What part of the Constitution do you think gives Congress the authority to mandate that individuals have to purchase health insurance?"
Lincoln did not answer the question during the press conference but spoke to CNSNews.com in the Dirksen Senate Office Building immediately afterward. CNSNews.com asked her there: 'You didn't respond to my constitutionality question during the press conference, and what was your reaction to, your answer to the question?"
"Well, I just think the Constitution charges Congress with the health and well-being of the people," Lincoln said.
CNSNews.com then asked the Senator: "So, what area though? You're saying the health and well-being. What area, though, does that fall under?"
"The health and well-being of the people of the country," she replied.
During the press conference, Landrieu told CNSNews.com she would let "constitutional lawyers on our staff" answer the question of where the Constitution authorizes Congress to mandate that individuals buy health insurance. "Well, we're very lucky as members of the Senate to have constitutional lawyers on our staff, so I'll let them answer that," said Landrieu.
"But what I will say is that most certainly it is within Congress' jurisdiction to come up with a way to have a health insurance funded with shared responsibility, is the way I like to, you know--government has a responsibility, individuals have a responsibility and business has a responsibility," said Landrieu.