January 19, 2012 8:07AM 

# Wisconsin Stiff-Arms ObamaCare 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

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For the better part of a year, I have been [urging](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12793) [states](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12805) to [refuse](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12858) to [implement](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13193) ObamaCare, and to send any ObamaCare grants back to Washington, D.C.. In October, I was pleased to see the Heritage Foundation’s Ed Haislmaier [call on states](https://www.cato.org/heritage-scholar-urges-states-dont-implement-obamacare-exchanges-send-back-grants/) to do the same.

Late yesterday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) became the latest governor to heed that advice. Walker [announced](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57361562/walker-turning-down-$37-million-for-health-care/) Wisconsin will return the $37 million “Early Innovator Grant” it received from the Obama administration under the health care law.

Wisconsin never should have accepted that money. Its purpose was to rope state officials into implementing a law that Walker himself [described](http://www.doj.state.wi.us/news/files/Governor_Walker-Federal_Health_Care_Lawsuit_ltr.pdf) as “unprecedented,” “unconstitutional,” and jeopardizing “the foundational principle, enshrined in our Constitution, that the federal government is one of limited and enumerated powers.” Yet Walker accepted the Early Innovator Grant [after](http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/02/20110216a.html) Wisconsin [joined](http://www.doj.state.wi.us/absolutenm/templates/template_share.aspx?articleid=2387&zoneid=1) the *Florida v. HHS* lawsuit, and after a federal district court declared the entire law [unconstitutional and void](http://aca-litigation.wikispaces.com/file/view/District+Court+final+opinion.pdf).

Nevertheless, Walker did the right thing by joining the other two GOP governors who received Early Innovator Grants—Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin—in sending the money back. Walker’s move probably took no small amount of political courage, given how hard the health insurance industry and other ObamaCare profiteers—[including prominent Republicans](https://www.cato.org/republicans-getting-rich-off-obamacare/)—have been lobbying states like Wisconsin to create an Exchange.

Kudos.

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

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