Five Democrats broke with their party to support the bill to repeal ObamaCare, which is just two more than in 2011. House Republicans supported it unanimously, Fox News reports:
House lawmakers voted Wednesday to repeal the federal health care overhaul — the latest in a long line of anti-”ObamaCare” votes, but the first since the Supreme Court upheld the law and defined one of its key provisions as a “tax.”
The House has voted more than 30 times to scrap, defund or undercut the law since Obama signed it in March 2010. As with those bills, the repeal bill approved Wednesday on a 244-185 vote faces certain demise in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
But Republicans were looking to get lawmakers back on record on the law in the wake of the high court ruling last month. The ruling upheld most the law as constitutional, but in doing so determined that the controversial penalty on those who do not buy insurance technically qualifies as a “tax” and not a “penalty” as the administration had claimed. That definition fueled GOP criticism of the law, and put some Democrats in a politically tricky position.
The bill won’t actually go anywhere — Harry Reid would block a Senate vote on it, not that it would have a chance of passing there anyway. As a completely gratuitous precaution President Obama has also vowed to veto the bill if it miraculously ends up on his desk.
But 185 Democrats are now on the record supporting Obamacare, even after the SCOTUS decision and the classification of the mandate as a “tax.” This will be powerful ammunition for Republican congressional candidates leading up to Election Day. Considering the consistent majority public opposition to Obamacare, It’s surprising that just two Democrats switched sides since the 2011 vote. Maybe even vulnerable Dems figured they already did the damage by supporting Obamacare in the first place — what’s one more vote in favor?
It's not enough to repeal Obamacare–democrats must be punished.
I was disappointed on the Toldedo, Ohio news to see Kaptur and Latta discussing their votes. Latta said they had to have a vote because the Supremem Court called it a tax and it's the biggest tax in history. Kaptur said (new line, I guess) that Obamacare is a good beginning, and went on about not being able now to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, up to 26 year olds staying on their parents' insurance, etc. n nWhat bothered me is that NOBODY cares one way or another about whether the penalty is a tax. They're either for or against Obamacare. Republicans need to stop wasting their 10 seconds on the news with that argument! I think (and encourage Republican legislators to consider) Latta should have said that they had to have the vote because the Supreme Court said it isn't up to them to correct politics when it goes amiss. which it did in giving us Obamacare through backdoor deals and payoffs and sneaky dead of night tactics against the will of the American people. We had to have the vote so the voters know who they have to vote out if they want to have a say in America again!
The question I would ask is how many Dems didn't vote at all? n nIf I were a Dem and worried about my district being opposed to Obamacare, I would have found some really good excuse not to have been in DC that day. Something defensible like the funeral of someone important to the district or the like, the classic "but how could I not have been there" thing. n nThis would allow me to both not upset the DNC while also allowing me to tell voters "Hey – I knew it was going to pass anyway so they didn't need my vote for it."