One of the promises of Republicans running for the House of Representatives in the 2010 Midterm Elections was that they were going to repeal Obama’s health care reform bill. The strong statement proved to be a wise choice for the congressmen and women as Americans who were not pleased with the reform rushed to the polls in November to turn control of the House of Representatives from the Democrats over to the Republicans.
Last week, Republicans wanted to vote on the potential repeal, but the shooting in Arizona caused the debate and vote to be postponed. But this week, things fell into place for the Republicans. Tuesday, the matter was opened up for debate on the floor of the House. Wednesday, the members of the House came together to vote on the vital issue.
The bill was passed in the House by a total of 245 votes to 189. All of the Republicans voted to repeal the health reform law and they were joined by three members of the Democratic Party.
The bill, which was titled, “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act,” may have passed the House of Representatives, but now is where the biggest flaw in the House Republicans plan is exposed.
The likelihood of the bill making it past the Senate is next to impossible. The Senate has a majority of Democrats and on top of that, a total of sixty votes are needed to pass a bill in the Senate. As a result, all of the Republicans and thirteen Democrats would need to vote in favor of the repeal.
Even then, there is one major obstacle standing in the way. President Obama has veto power. Even if the bill manages to pass through the Senate, in which Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he will not bring it to a vote, there is virtually no chance that President Obama will not use his veto power to stop the repeal in its tracks.
Another problem with the Republican opposition to Obama’s reform is that they have not offered an alternative. They have simply said that Obama’s plan should be abandoned, but have not offered a new plan or a way to undo Obama’s version of the reform.
The Republicans will more than likely be forced to attempt to simply cut funding to certain parts of Obama’s program. An overall repeal is highly unlikely, but a cutting back on the financial allocations to the bill is a feasible option for Republicans.
You mean, the Health Care Reform Bill has been ASSASINATED… and replaced by what? The Republicans should at least use the right terminology… stay with the times.