Rep. Garrett: Obama's Mandate Delay Unconstitutional

Rep. Scott Garrett tells Newsmax that President Barack Obama has "violated his oath of office" and the Constitution by postponing part of the Affordable Care Act.

The New Jersey Republican also says Obamacare is a "house of cards" and the employer mandate should be abolished altogether.

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Garrett was first elected in 2002 and is a member of the Budget and Financial Services Committees. He has consistently received perfect 100 ratings from the American Conservative Union.

The congressman has introduced a resolution outlining how the president is in violation of the Constitution.

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV, Garrett explains: "The Congress must stand up firmly and make the public aware that the president has violated his oath of office, that he has violated the Constitution, specifically the section which basically says he must fully and faithfully execute the laws that Congress enacts.

"Specifically in the case here, the president is basically picking and choosing on his own bill, the Affordable Care Act, which sections he wants to implement and which section he does not want to implement. No president has that authority to do so. Once a bill is signed into law, he has to under the Constitution faithfully execute that law."

The administration has said it will postpone implementation of the employer mandate to provide insurance until 2015. Asked if he would prefer moving it back to 2014 or abolishing it altogether, Garrett responds: "I like the latter choice, abolish it altogether.

"That's what we say in this resolution because if you do this incrementally, that is totally not fair to individuals. If businesses are not going to do it, then basically it'll push the burden onto the individual. So we should postpone the individual [mandate].

"But if you postpone the individual then you demonstrate the whole house of cards that is Obamacare, because the exchanges will still be in existence but there won't be any compulsion for businesses or individuals to put people into plans. So insurance rates are going to go through the roof. And all the people that thought they were going to get something free out of the government under Obamacare will realize that they are now in an exchange where the rates have gone up astronomically and either they can't afford them or the government will not be able to afford the subsidies to pay for it. Hence my expression that it's a house of cards."

Garrett agrees that the employer mandate is a "job killer" because many employers will reduce their workforce or increase part-time employees.

"I mean this is the fallacy of the left and the Democrat Party and the president to think that you can actually orchestrate a health insurance plan that micromanages it down to this level to say who is exactly going to have coverage and employers have to provide it," he tells Newsmax.

"We predicted this, we predicted that if you start setting standards like this, employers will do the practical, efficient thing and say well, if I have to provide coverage for somebody working 30 hours a week or more I just won't employ them. I will outsource. I'll not hire more people.

"The left refused to look at this and quite honestly many in the union sector, who supported Obamacare, turned a blind eye to it as well. Many in the business community who supported the Affordable Care Act turned a blind eye to the realities of having the government micromanage and take over one-sixth of the economy. It's a failed system, it's a house of cards, we saw this coming and now I guess the rest of the country will see it implemented and fail as well."

Garrett says he is also working on housing policy reform.

"We had a press conference recently where we rolled out our GSE [government-sponsored enterprise, such as Fannie Mae] reform piece of legislation. We're in draft form right now. That basically will address the problem that American taxpayers once again have been on the hook to bail out the GSEs to $100 billion so far.

"We want to end that forever by phasing out the GSEs and allow for the private sector to come back in and fill the space and to establish a sustainable housing market in this country."