They blocked proposals for tightening gun curbs, a response to Wednesday’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, last week’s fatal attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado and last month’s assault on Paris. “Today, that ends. Today, a middle class that’s suffered enough from a partisan law will see the Senate vote to build a bridge past Obamacare and toward better care”.
Advertisement
The vote caps weeks of intense and at times acrimonious debate within the Senate GOP conference over how far the repeal should go. An amendment from Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein to prevent the sale of guns to suspected terrorists drew just one Republican vote, while a bipartisan measure on background checks from Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and Pat Toomey, a Republican, earned four votes from Republicans.
On Planned Parenthood, Sen. By the time the vote approached, top Republicans expressed confidence that they would prevail.
Republicans are using a budget process called “reconciliation”, which allows them to pass the bill based on a majority vote. Two moderate Republicans – Susan Collins of ME and Mark Kirk of IL – joined Democrats in opposing the bill. Sen.
“When they pursue these really ideological positions, it does more harm and it is something that they’re going to have to talk about and it’s something we’ll do our job to make sure voters are hearing about”, Passalacqua told RealClearPolitics. It also eliminates fines for those who do not comply with the mandate.
The organization has come under intense scrutiny after the Center for Medical Progress, an anti-abortion group of investigative journalists, revealed several videos showing Planned Parenthood senior officials discussing the harvesting and selling of aborted fetuses’ organs and tissue.
Planned Parenthood – a major provider of women’s health services that receives funding from the government – offers preventive checkups, contraceptives and abortions, a highly emotive and divisive issue in America.
New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, who is challenging Ayotte next year, criticized her opponent for supporting the package, citing the Medicaid and Planned Parenthood portions in particular. The amendment was narrowly rejected, with 52 senators voting in opposition.
Luckily for the rest of us, their vote is a largely symbolic one that will curry favor with their constituents but will be vetoed as soon as it hits Obama’s presidential desk.
Advertisement
Conservatives like FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon were ecstatic that Senate Republicans moved to take healthcare away from almost 20 million Americans, “Under pressure from Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and thousands of conservative activists across the country, Senate Republicans finally got the message and acted to repeal the ObamaCare disaster”. John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Republican, has said the legislation would provide a two-year transition to enable people to find alternative coverage.
