Repeal of Obamacare - Update - House votes to repeal!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11TH, AND THURSDAY, JULY 12TH
Complete Consideration of H.R. __ - Repeal of Obamacare Act (Subject to a Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Eric Cantor / Energy and Commerce Committee / Ways and Means Committee / Education and the Workforce Committee)

http://americac2c.com/profiles/blogs/wednesday-july-11th-12th-complete-consideration-repeal-of-obamaca?xg_source=msg_mes_network

The House voted again Wednesday to repeal the 2010 healthcare reform law, giving Republicans some revenge against the late June Supreme Court ruling that found the law to be constitutional.

Members approved the bill in a 244-185 vote, after five hours of debate that stretched over two days.

As expected, just a handful of Democrats supported the GOP repeal bill. Five Democrats, Reps. Dan Boren (Okla.), Larry Kissell (N.C.), Jim Matheson (Utah), Mike McIntyre (N.C.) and Mike Ross (Ark.), sided with Republicans in the final vote. Of this group, all but Matheson voted with the GOP in a procedural vote on the bill Tuesday.

Republicans insisted on passing the Repeal of Obamacare Act, H.R. 6079, in reaction to the Supreme Court ruling, even though Democrats pointed out that the bill would be ignored by the Democratic Senate. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) cast the bill as a way to give the Senate another chance to heed the will of Americans who oppose the legislation and see it as something that has led to increased healthcare costs and hindered job creation.
"For those who still support repealing this harmful healthcare law, we're giving our colleagues in the Senate another chance to heed the will of the American people," Boehner said, noting the House vote against the law at the start of the 112th Congress. "And for those who did not support repeal the last time, it's a chance for our colleagues to reconsider."

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Republicans felt compelled to put members on the record about the healthcare law after the Supreme Court ruling, which surprised both parties.

"I introduced this legislation on behalf of my colleagues so that we may all be on record following the Supreme Court's decision, in order to show that the House rejects ObamaCare, and that we are committed to taking this flawed law off the books," Cantor said as he closed debate on the bill.

On June 28, the Supreme Court announced its decision that the individual mandate is consistent with the Constitution when seen as a tax. That disappointed Republicans, who were hoping the court would strike down the mandate and associated penalties as unjustifiable under the Commerce Clause.

But it also gave Republicans the ability to argue that the law is a huge tax that violates President Obama's promise to not raise taxes on middle-income Americans.

"The Congressional Budget Office predicts that approximately 20 million Americans will either pay the tax or be forced to buy insurance they otherwise wouldn't have purchased," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said in Tuesday debate.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said if members of Congress knew ahead of time that the bill would raise taxes, fail to lower healthcare costs and limit health insurance choices for Americans, it would have failed in Congress two years ago.

"If any of these three broken promises were known to the public and the Congress at the time they were passing this law, the law would never have passed in the first place," Ryan said. "We now have this information. Let's revisit this."

Most Democrats tried to cast the two-day debate as a waste of time that could have been better used passing legislation that creates jobs, and as a futile attempt to respond politically to the court's ruling.

"What we're engaged in here in the House of Representatives right now is a total waste of taxpayer money," ranking Budget Committee member Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Wednesday. "It's no wonder the American people think so little of this institution."

Many Democrats noted that the Republican House already approved a repeal bill at the beginning of the 112th Congress, and has voted more than 30 times now to repeal either all or part of the law.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tried to cast the vote as one that would take away benefits from millions of Americans, but not from members of Congress.

"I think that that's an undermining of fundamental fairness," Pelosi said. "You repeal this bill, which means you keep your federal health insurance benefits, while you take these current patient protections away from the American people."

She also called the vote a "valentine to the health insurance industry," and just before the vote told reporters that Republicans are "handmaidens" of the insurance industry companies that oppose the law.

Many others noted that while Republicans have talked about replacing the healthcare law, the GOP has not put forward any comprehensive replacement plan, and instead seems to be focusing only on repeal. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) mocked Republicans on this point Wednesday morning, holding up an empty hand to represent the GOP's healthcare replacement bill and giving it a mock "reading" on the House floor.

On a practical level, the House vote seemed to give both parties a chance to test-market their talking points on jobs and healthcare before the November election. Republicans and Democrats spent considerable time putting the vote in the context of its impact for the average American — several Republicans said repeal would unburden companies from related taxes and help job creation, while Democrats argued that keeping the law in place would ensure health security for millions of Americans.

The Obama administration said on Monday that it would veto the bill if it somehow made it through the Senate, and also played up the health security angle.

"The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 6079 because it would cost millions of hard-working middle class families the security of affordable health coverage and care they deserve," the White House said Monday. "It would increase the deficit and detract from the work the Congress needs to do to focus on the economy and create jobs."


http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/politics-elections/237335-house-votes-to-repeal-healthcare-law