Republicans launched their latest, doomed try to kill President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul on Tuesday. With no chance of succeeding, the House vote was solely an exercise in election-year political messaging.
Tuesday’s vote was an attempt to override Obama’s veto last month of legislation gutting much of the law and ending federal payments to Planned Parenthood. Republicans had no chance of mustering the two-thirds majority needed to reverse a veto, but Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the effort would send an important signal.
“What we’re proving today is if we have a Republican president next year, we will repeal Obamacare,” Ryan told reporters, using a nickname for a law that GOP lawmakers have despised since it was pushed through Congress six years ago.
Ryan also said the GOP will offer its own proposal this year for replacing the law, saying it would lower costs and “restore the doctor-patient relationship.” Republicans have criticized the law for increasing medical costs and giving patients less control over their care, charges Democrats dispute.
The GOP has struggled for years to coalesce behind a replacement plan.
Democrats mocked the GOP for trying yet again — and on Groundhog Day, no less — to kill or curb the law. Democrats said Tuesday’s vote marked the 62nd such effort since Republicans took control of the House in 2011, and cited estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that the rollback would end medical care for millions of Americans.
“This is a historically callous action,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
Van Hollen also said Republicans had “a lot of gall” to try blocking Planned Parenthood’s federal money a week after a grand jury in Texas found no wrongdoing by the organization and instead indicted anti-abortion activists who had secretly filmed videos of the group’s officials.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
I expect a “more honest” judge or politician to question officially the “reversed” activity of the grand jury and leadership. One may even question the authority of the grand jury and its leadership to indict the activist group.
I wish the Planned Parenthood and Obamacare efforts would have been in separate bills. Some people would support pulling the funding for Planned Parenthood but might not want to see Obamacare dismantled.
Replacing Obamacare is more likely to win than shutting Obamacare down. As long as President Obama is in office any repeal efforts are going to be vetoed. If Republicans create a replacement for Obamacare that might be more difficult to veto, especially if it lowered costs and improved quality.
Are the services provided by Planned Parenthood also provided under Obamacare? If both are funded by tax payer dollars why are we double funding?
Well, PALEEZZE. The Republican’s hold the seats they were elected too, in hopes that FAIRNESS would return to Congress, were nothing more than Wolves in Sheep’s clothing. Their blatant slap in the face should wake up the citizenry, to the fact that they are all of one cloth, the PROGRESSIVE Agenda to make America a 3rd world country with them at the top as the soldiers of fortune:
Over the years Mercenary work has been regarded as the second oldest profession in the world.i.e:
Quote. Although some might argue that it is a peculiarly male version of prostitution, it has effectively been around for as long as war has been waged. Unquote As referred to by Peter Tickler in the introduction to his book ‘The Modern Mercenary’ published by Patrick Stephens Ltd 1987 ISBN No 0-82059-8125. Well worth a read.
SCREW THE DEMOCRATS!!!!!!!!!!!! I PAY MY OWN WAY AND OTHER’S THAT ARE ON WELFARE, I DON’T NEED ANYONE TO TELL ME HOW TO SPEND WHAT LITTLE MONEY I HAVE ON MEDICAL OR ANY OTHER WAY! I AM AN ADULT, LEAVE THE PEOPLE WHO DON’T NEED THE GOV. TO LIVE OFF OF ALONE AND CONCERN YOURSELVES WITH THOSE THAT THINK LIVING ON WELFARE IS A JOB BECAUSE THEY HAVE 10 KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TRUMP 2016 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SICK OF OBUMMER AND HIS FLOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very well said, and the illegal immigrant had 11 children and decided NOT TO WORK-He was handed $30,000 on welfare, so He didn’t need to work. The whole NObamacare is illegal, because the House & Senate had not read all
2000 pages of the SCAM.(author’s name for ACA) and I suspect The US Supreme Court Justices DID NOT READ
it either, and voted on it for the citizens who did NOT WANT ANOTHER WASTE OF TIME POORLY CONCEIVED
OBAMA MONEY WASTER. When the bill was passed for the citizens, by those exempt, and then Obama added
a large stack of extra pages to the finalized voted bill, illegally and without Congress knowing the horrors listed in the illegal pages of heavy tax burdens, and citizen bailouts. Was it 15,000 more pages, outside the passed bill?
Normal Procedure for the REPUKES in Congress…Pass USELESS Bills going NOWHERE….To say they DID SOMETHING…
NObamacare is illegal by policies and procedures of our US Constitution. The Senate and The House are NEVER to Vote On a Bill that has NOT BEEN READ, nor discussed about the merits, the overcharging budget, the no choice sign up & cronyism of Michael/Michelle’s school mate overcharged computer job vs. a professional bidding process. The Supreme Court probably did not read all 2000 pages, and they voted in something the author called ‘SCAM’ of a health plan, and which the US Citizens did not get to vote on. An exemption list is part of the ‘SCAM’. A PASSED BILL in Congress, is NOT ALLOWED to add extra pages,
AFTER THE BILL ILLEGALLY PASSED, which are unread by the Congress, The Supreme Court, etc. Policy has been breached
and the bill should DIE A TIMELY DEATH OF IMPROPRIETY (Improper Act by Reid/Pelosi/, Congress, The Supreme Court
Justices, and Obama ‘s extra stack of pages illegally up to 15,000 pages.
Peggy-
i agree with you, but perhaps for different reasons.
First of all, the Preamble to the Bill of Rights as well as the 9th and 10th Amendments make it clear to even the dullest of intellects that unless a power has been specifically named as belonging to this or that General Government branch, it does not exist!
Remember Thomas Paine, who wrote(and meant) “All delegated power is trust; all assumed power is usurpation.”
The Constitution spells out exactly what powers can LAWFULLY be exercised by various officials in their respective Branches; if any one or more of them takes a step beyond the SPECIFIED POWERS, they’re in violation of their oaths of office and should be immediately arrested, tried, and convicted for felony perjury, that is, lying under oath, for they have “usurped” their legitimate boundaries, arrogating powers to themselves which they DO NOT HAVE. The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land. No “law” passed by Congress can be superior to it; no Executive Order can trump it; no SCOTUS ruling can change it or any portion of it – and neither can “precedent.” Why? Well, if any EO could be superior to the Constitution, then IT would be the Supreme Law – and it ain’t; if SCOTUS could rule and change the Constitution, then IT would be the Supreme Law, and THEY ain’t. If Congress could make a “law” that the Constitution says they have ZERO POWER to make, then THEY would be Supreme, and THEY ain’t, either.
I’ve yet to find that portion of the Constitution which says “Oh, and if you can establish some “precedent” for this or that, then Precedent is the Supreme Law of the Land,” either. Maybe i missed that part. Somebody show me.
The word “health” does not appear in the Constitution ANYwhere, and the words “general welfare” canNOT be construed to apply to individual Citizens, as the State Representatives were the only ones who ratified the Constitution(so no individual is a party to the Constitution, only the States are.). i have several quotations from those who either wrote or ratified the Constitution to this effect, which i can post if challenged on this point.
In addition, will someone please point out that portion of the Constitution which allows ANY gov’t actor of ANY Branch to order ANY American to purchase ANYthing at ANY TIME from ANY ONE? I sure can’t find it there.
Last, even if one accepts the SCOTUS notion that D’ohbamacare is “legal as a tax”(I sure as hell don’t), well, “All Bills for Revenue MUST ORIGINATE in the House of Representatives.” Since D’ohbamacare originated in the Senate, it’s completely Unconstitutional ab initio, and NO ONE NEED OBEY it, as all Unconstitutional “laws” are null and void from the beginning. Refuse to pay any “fines” on the same basis, too.
But people – especially immigrants and naturalized citizens – are scared to death of gov’t actors and the “current narrative” that “Everyone must buy health insurance through the gov’t program,” which is yet more BULL SHEET with capital letters. Regular, natural born Citizens are scared of the 40 million + gov’t employees, too, it seems – and Jefferson’s dictum comes into play: “When the Government fears the People, there is liberty; when the People fear the Government, there is tyranny.”
D’ohbama and nitwit Americans seem to be counting on Constitutional ignorance by the majority of Americans, and based on how little – and how ineffectively – anyone has objected, their dumbing-down process has proved to be a resounding success, so far. Yay, Common Core, right?