After holding a town hall meeting on healthcare reform in Davidson County, Rep. Mel Watt traveled up Interstate 85 and held another meeting in Greensboro, where he was asked about the requirement to purchase health insurance:
Joshua Leonhardt of Charlotte asked Watt several questions, including how the congressman could reconcile the health care reform bill’s mandates to carry insurance with the Constitution’s 10th amendment that reserves powers not expressly enumerated to the states and the people.
Watt needed help getting focused on the question, asking Leonhardt to remind him of the 10th amendment’s language.
“I’d look at the preamble to the Constitution that talks about the health and welfare and national defense of our country,” Watt said. “You can’t make a compelling case to do national defense or some of the other things that are mentioned in the preamble… and then say the federal government has no role to play in the health of the nation. I just don’t understand that argument.”
Watt also repeated his view that tort reform is a matter for state law to address, a surprise given his answer above, plus the fact that the federal government is interjecting itself into every other aspect of our lives.
