Sen. Grassley Suggests Health Care Reform Is Unconstitutional

Early on in the health care debate, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) positioned himself as one of few Republicans willing to work across party lines for health care reform.  That turned out to be a mirage, of course.  As his arguments became more contradictory and incoherent, it quickly became clear that Grassley was bent on obstruction, not moving the process forward. 

One prime example came in September, when Grassley suddenly decided he was opposed to individual mandates.  In June, Grassley had defended mandates on Fox News, comparing them to similar requirements for auto insurance. "I believe that there is a bipartisan consensus to have individual mandates," he stated.  But just a few months later, Grassley said that while he supported getting "more people insured in a voluntary way," he was "very reluctant to go along with an individual mandate."

Now, as the Senate prepares to begin its debate, Grassley has taken the next logical step in his evolution.  On a conference call with reporters today, the erratic Senator suggested that an individual mandate may be unconstitutional:

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said today he still has questions about the constitutionality of an individual health insurance mandate.

"Whether it's constitutional or not ought to have the most debate," he said in a conference call with reporters.

"I'm afraid the way this thing is going that there's not enough questions raised about the individual mandate, that maybe there aren't enough people concerned about it," he added.

There's no reason to take Grassley seriously anymore, at least with regards to health care.  But still, considering that he's generally less extreme than many of his fellow Senate Republicans, this is a strong indicator of the sort of thing we'll be hearing a lot of in the coming weeks.