Paul Ryan praises Trump decision to end ObamaCare payments

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) praised President Trump’s decision to cut off key subsidies to health insurance companies, saying the move ultimately upheld Congress’s constitutional “power of the purse.”

“Today’s decision by the Trump administration to end the appeal of that ruling preserves a monumental affirmation of Congress’s authority and the separation of powers,” Ryan said in a statement late Thursday.

“Obamacare has proven itself to be a fatally flawed law, and the House will continue to work with the Trump administration to provide the American people a better system.”

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The White House announced Thursday night that it would scrap the subsidies, known as cost-sharing reduction payments, which help low-income people pay for certain out-of-pocket medical costs. 

The administration had continued to make the monthly payments to insurers, which are worth an estimated $7 billion this year, but Trump has repeatedly threatened to end them. 

In its decision to cut off the subsidies, the Trump administration said that the payments were unconstitutional because Congress has not appropriated money for them.

In response to a lawsuit filed in 2014 by former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), a federal court ruled that the subsidies were illegal, although the Obama administration appealed that decision. The Trump administration will end that appeal.