But they opposed the “Health Care Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015” that passed the House of Representatives this fall and will be the basis of a vote in the Senate on Thursday. The White House has pledged that Obama will veto it. Republicans lack the two-thirds House and Senate majorities needed to override a veto.
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The chamber spent all of Thursday debating a GOP bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act that included a provision to eliminate funding for the reproductive health care provider.
So, some might ask, what is the value of this exercise?
Others, like Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Senate Republican, argued there was no way for the law to be sustained in the long run without GOP backing. Richard Shelby of Alabama. Voters gave them control of the Senate and strengthened their hand in the House – but nothing seemed to change.
This marks the first time the Republican controlled Congress has ever sent a bill to repeal Obamacare to the president’s desk.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, could only afford to lose three Republican votes. “When the president picks up his pen, he’ll have a real choice to make”.
Democrats countered that Republicans were wasting time with more political show votes. We shouldn’t be talking about defunding Planned Parenthood at all, but the GOP has managed to introduce that notion into the political consciousness, to suggest that it might be possible in the future.
“Individuals who speak out for the life of children shouldn’t suddenly be silenced by being screamed down because an insane person does a shooting in a clinic”, said Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma on Wednesday, according to NPR.
Today, the U.S. Senate has succeeded in voting to defund Planned Parenthood of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars, by a vote of 52 to 47. Republican leaders have conveyed confidence they can get the 51 votes required to push the reconciliation bill through the Senate this week. And one of those defections could be Susan Collins of Maine. It would also cut off funding to Planned Parenthood for one year after an anti-abortion group released videos over the summer showing officials discussing the transfer of fetal tissue.
Lawmakers have voted dozens of times to repeal all or parts of the health care overhaul.
“We think this problem is so urgent that, next year, we are going to unveil a plan to replace every word of Obamacare”, the Wisconsin Republican said at the Library of Congress. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, without a single Republican vote. Much to the annoyance of Democrats. Dick Durbin of IL.
“Do they talk to their constituents?”
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But Durbin scoffed at that idea. We get that. But we also don’t want this issue to go away.
