Dems demand attorney general hand over documents on Obamacare decision

WASHINGTON — House Democrats are demanding Attorney General William Barr hand over documentation behind the Trump administration’s decision not to defend the Affordable Care Act in court — and threatening to use their subpoena power if the administration does not comply.

They also want Russell Vought, the Office of Management and Budget acting director, to sit for an interview about his role in the Justice Department’s decision.

The demands, issued in two letters Monday, come as House Democrats begin to shift their oversight and investigations strategy away from the Mueller report — which could be tied up in court for months — and into one of Republicans’ most politically vulnerable topics: health care.

While a key committee had teed up a full House floor vote to hold Barr in contempt of Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week that the House would hold off and might hold several administration officials in contempt at the same time. She did not name any other official.

Democrats hope to combine the political power of the health care law — it was a central plank of their campaign to obtain control of the House in 2018 — with their effort to highlight what they call abuses of power by the Trump administration.

In this case, they want documents showing why the Justice Department said it would support a legal effort to invalidate the entire health care law, including popular provisions such as protections for people with preexisting conditions.

“It is Congress’ responsibility as an independent and coequal branch of government to understand how this decision was made, including whether the president or anyone in the White House instructed the department to override its legal conclusions and take a position that would result in the loss of...