Reply #127: More news articles on this effort and how it's going national: [View All]

Texan Cruz’s proposal for interstate ‘health care compacts’ has gone national
By Patrick Brendel | 03.22.11 | 10:37 am

Last week, the House Select Committee on State Sovereignty fielded testimony on legislation seeking to challenge or replace ‘Obamacare.’ One particular set of bills proposes supplanting federal health care programs with an interstate “health care compact” — an idea that has gone national, but whose origin can be traced to former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz (now a Republican U.S. Senate candidate) writing for conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation.

During the hearing, committee member state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio) had an exchange with witness Susanna Dokupil, who identified herself as representing the national Health Care Compact Alliance (HCCA), a 501(c)4 nonprofit. After Martinez Fischer pressed Dokupil on if she was associated with TPPF, she admitted that she is a senior fellow in TPPF’s Center for Tenth Amendment Studies — the division from which sprang the health care compact proposal by Cruz and Center Director Mario Loyola (who also testified during the committee hearing). Dokupil, however, maintained that her testimony on HCCA’s behalf was “completely separate and independent” from her duties for TPPF.

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As The Texas Independent reported in December, TPPF joined forces with the American Legislative Exchange Council to spread the word around on several TPPF proposals to resist federal power, including health care compacts and calls for constitutional conventions. One specified goal for a constitutional convention would be to propose a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which is one of the legislative emergency items declared by prominent TPPF supporter Gov. Rick Perry.

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TPPF leads interstate consortium of think tanks against federal power
Texas lawmakers already proposing suggested legislation
By Patrick Brendel | 12.30.10 | 5:23 pm

The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) has joined forces with conservative think tanks in other states to create the Agenda for State Action project, designed to help individual states thwart federal laws they see as intrusive — primarily federal health care reform. Already, Texas lawmakers have begun proposing legislation prescribed by project leaders, who include former Solicitor General Ted Cruz.

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In the December report for the American Legislative Exchange Council, TPPF proposes that state legislators call for a constitutional convention to pass amendments to require a balanced federal budget, require a congressional super-majority to raise taxes, enable a line-item veto for federal appropriations, make increases in the federal debt contingent upon state legislatures’ approval, allow two-thirds of state legislatures to repeal any federal law and change the amendment process so two-thirds of states can propose amendments directly.

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