Nevada Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Sandoval says he agrees with attorneys general from 13 states who say major health reform legislation in Congress doesn't pass constitutional muster.
Late today Sandoval, a former attorney general for Nevada, said he agreed with the Dec. 30 letter from the Republican attorneys general.
“After reviewing the attorneys general letter, I agree,” Sandoval said. “Our nation was founded on a principle that all states should be treated equally. Singling out one state over others is patently unfair, and I believe Congress should re-examine its legislation as the current language will not withstand constitutional scrutiny.”
The letter stated in part: "We believe this provision is constitutionally flawed. As chief legal officers of our states we are contemplating a legal challenge to this provision and we ask you to take action to render this challenge unnecessary by striking that provision."
Incumbent Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, a Republican, has sought to press the state's attorney general, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, to consider a similar challenge.
Masto has said through her spokesperson that despite the governor's public pleas, no one from his office has made a formal request or detailed what, exactly, the challenge should be based on.
Jon Summers, a spokesman for health care legislation leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., says Sandoval is seeking to undermine legislation that would help Nevada if it is enacted.
"This is a good bill for Nevada and the country," Summers said. "It is going to help by covering the cost of Medicare expansion 100 percent in the next three years."
The Republicans' biggest beef is over a provision that would cover the Medicare expansion 100 percent in perpetuity for Nebraska, while other states get just three years under such an arrangement.
The Nebraska provision helped Reid get legislative support from Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., that was needed to move the bill through the Senate.
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