Trump

ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

The Affordable Care Act requires health insurance companies to subsidize the cost of co-payments and deductibles for lower-income people. In turn, the Act requires the federal government to make advance payments to the companies to cover the cost of this subsidy. The legab problem in this case is that while the Act requires the insurance companies to be paid, it’s unclear whether the Act actually appropriated money for these payments. If Congress doesn’t appropriate money for a program, the Constitution prohibits the executive branch from spending money on that program — even if Congress previously enacted a statute requiring the expenditure.

The Obama Administration took the position that the Affordable Care Act indeed appropriated money for the payments, so it drew funds from the U.S. Treasury every month to make them. The Trump Administration initially continued this practice, but has now concluded that the Act did not actually make the necessary appropriation. So the Trump Administration has terminated the payments, at least until Congress decides to appropriate the money.

In response, the State of California, along with 17…