HT to JWF!Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D.-Texas) told the House Judiciary Committee yesterday that the “penalty” that the health-care law enacted last year by Congress imposes on individuals who do not buy health insurance is not in fact a penalty.
"it's ummm...something else!"
The law itself states: “If an applicable individual fails to meet the requirement of subsection (a) [having a government-approved health-insurance policy]… there is hereby imposed a penalty with respect to the individual.”
Elsewhere, in a section entitled “Payment of Penalty,” it says that individuals failing to carry a government-approved health insurance policy must pay a maximum penalty of $750.
In Rep. Jackson-LeeÂ’s view, however, this language does not actually impose a penalty.
“I would make the argument, one, that instead it is an incentive to do right--that it is not penalizing because penalty is punishment,” Jackson-Lee told the Judiciary Committee.
I bet jaws were on the floor. This is the same genius that thought the Apollo missions went to Mars. She's guaranteed one or two incredibly dumb things a week, just most don't get publicized