“They want real health reform”, argued Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
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The bill has an amendment attached which would defund Planned Parenthood for one year, in response to the release of videos which suggested Planned Parenthood has been engaging in unethical practices related to aborted babies’ parts.
The one absentee was Sen.
Family Research Council commended the U.S. Senate for giving approval today to a budget reconciliation bill dealing with funding for Planned Parenthood and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
The bill, which was approved on a 52-47 vote, now goes back to the House, which is expected to adopt it and send it to the President for his veto. However, the White House has strongly indicated a presidential veto is coming.
“It seems implausible that less than a week after a tragic shooting at the Planned Parenthood health center in Colorado Springs some in Washington chose politics over compassion”, said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
The Senate has passed legislation that would basically gut the Affordable Care Act, reports the Associated Press.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee said the bill doesn’t just “tinker around Obamacare’s edges”, but lays the groundwork for it to be “erased from the books altogether”.
Democrats were also looking ahead, forcing Republicans who must defend their seats in 2016 to take tough votes Thursday on women’s health and whether, in the wake of another round of mass shootings, terror suspects can buy a gun. But after months of pressure from conservatives, Senate leaders made a decision to add language to defund Planned Parenthood that not every Republican senator supports.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee blasted vulnerable Republicans who opposed it. “Do they meet with them?”
The GOP said a veto would only help its presidential and congressional candidates by underscoring that Republican control of the White House and Congress could spell the end of the law they derisively label “Obamacare” and of Planned Parenthood’s federal dollars.
The legislation would repeal the individual and employer mandates, Cadillac tax, medical device tax, and eliminate the Independent Payment Advisory Board.
“Collins has consistently opposed defunding Planned Parenthood because it provides important family planning, cancer screenings, and basic preventive health care services for millions of women across the country”, Clark said. “Frustration with regulations runs across party lines”, he says, and the population is unhappy with Obamacare for not delivering what was promised.
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Though Republicans have voted repeatedly to repeal the law, Democrats are eager to use this latest vote as a wedge issue in 2016, particularly when it comes to closely contested Senate races. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, later offered an amendment to create a national background check database and consistent background check system, but it suffered the same fate as his colleagues’ bills.
