Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) intend to file a federal complaint Friday to stop Gov. Roy Cooper’s attempt to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. Berger and Moore maintain Cooper does not have the authority to unilaterally expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act without legislative approval.

 

The Republican leaders issued the following statement: 

 

“Unlike others, this is the first time we will be plaintiffs in a lawsuit, and it is not a decision we’ve made lightly – but unfortunately our multiple attempts to amicably convince Gov. Cooper to follow the law have fallen on deaf ears. Cooper’s brazen decision to press on with his unconstitutional Obamacare expansion scheme and ignore the General Assembly’s constitutional role to make laws requires swift legal action.

 

“Today has raised even more serious questions about how closely Gov. Cooper and the Obama administration have coordinated to force an unconstitutional Obamacare expansion in the last few days of the president’s administration, with the governor offering a cabinet post to a senior Obama administration official leading the very organization tasked with reviewing his proposal.”

 

 Berger and Moore have also asked Congress and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to disapprove Governor Cooper's Medicaid expansion request.