Obama health law faces Republican-led repeal vote
WASHINGTON — US lawmakers will vote yesterday to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law, as Republicans unleash a barrage of attacks aimed at inspiring support for wiping out the landmark reforms.
Democrats have slammed the effort — the 31st vote to repeal part or all of the Affordable Care Act — as a brash political show, but acknowledged it’s all but certain to pass the House of Representatives.
“We’re going to lose. Republicans are going to vote in lockstep,” the number two House Democrat Steny Hoyer told reporters as lawmakers made their cases for or against the reforms signed into law in 2010 and upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court late last month.
Hoyer also acknowledged there would be some Democrats voting to repeal the law that brings the world’s richest nation closer than ever to universal health care for its citizens.
“I think we’ll lose some as we did before, not a lot,” he said, referring to a full-repeal vote in early 2011. The number could be higher Wednesday, with some Democrats in heated battles for November reelection in swing states.
Republicans are touting the defections as a sign of broader discontent with Obama’s reforms.
“Democrats are hearing back home this bill is hurting small businesses,” senior House Republican Kevin McCarthy said of Democrats he believes will vote for repeal.
Republicans say “Obamacare” places unfair financial burdens on small companies whose costs they say are rising under the health care law, charges the White House and Democrats refute.
And with Mitt Romney, who is challenging Obama for the White House in November, insisting that the law’s mandate that all Americans obtain health insurance or pay a fine amounts to a massive tax hike, the issue is a pivotal campaign battle front.
The vote, however, is dead in the water. Democrats control the Senate, and the White House has informed Congress that the president would veto the legislation should it reach his desk.
“The last thing the Congress should do is refight old political battles and take a massive step backward by repealing basic protections that provide security for the middle class,” the White House statement said in a statement.
“Right now, the Congress needs to work together to focus on the economy and creating jobs.”