Report: Cabinet members, including William Barr, objected to move to overturn ObamaCare

William Barr.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Two Cabinet secretaries — Attorney General William Barr and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar — pushed back on the Trump administration's recent decision to reverse course and try to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, three people with knowledge of the matter told Politico.

In a letter sent to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, the Justice Department said federal lawyers will file a brief in support of a December district court ruling that the ACA's individual mandate is unconstitutional, and this renders the entire law invalid. Talks have been underway since late last year, with Azar arguing in December that there was no reason to fully repeal ObamaCare because Republicans don't have an alternative plan.

Barr was confirmed earlier this year, and "his opposition was based in part on skepticism among conservative lawyers about the wisdom of seeking to overturn the law," Politico reports. He was overruled by the White House on this ACA reversal plan, and he must now lead the Justice Department as it works to topple the health-care law.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney was once a congressman from South Carolina, a Tea Party ultra-conservative and one of the loudest critics of the ACA. Two of his close allies — acting director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought and domestic policy chief Joe Grogan — pushed for the DOJ to back the December ruling, people with knowledge of the matter told Politico.

Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.