GOP Senators oppose clause in ACA repeal bill to defund Planned Parenthood

Republicans used a budget process known as “reconciliation” that allowed them to pass a revenue-related bill by a majority vote, without having to overcome Democratic-led filibusters that have doomed every previous Obamacare repeal.

Republicans lack the two-thirds majority needed to override the promised veto by Obama.

The amendment, which is a part of a legislative effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act – President Barack Obama’s signature health care law – will nearly certainly be vetoed when the bill ends up in the Oval Office.

So, some might ask, what is the value of this exercise? Va., voted with Republicans to table the pro-abortion amendment, while pro-choice Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama.

Senators voted on over a dozen amendments all symbolic, since the measure was destined to never become law. This way, McConnell gave Republicans a chance to make good on promises to cut funding for the group.

In a major address Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan said axing the health care law would remain the GOP’s top priority, even if this year’s repeal effort is doomed.

The House is expected to send the bill to the president in the next few days.

Toomey, when asked whether he was concerned about repealing the Medicaid expansion, replied: “I’ve been on record in favor of completely repealing Obamacare for a long time and I’ve not changed my opinion on that”. “What they’re doing on the reconciliation is going nowhere”.

Last week, a gunman barricaded himself in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs after killing three people and injuring nine. James Lankford of Oklahoma on Wednesday, according to NPR.

But stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood may not be a slam-dunk.

Senators voted 52-47 to pass the bill. Susan Collins of Maine. Three percent. Removing federal funding for these basic health services is a very bad thing for women (not to mention the thousands of men who also use Planned Parenthood’s services for everything from STD testing to vasectomies). That was to placate hard-line conservatives who didn’t think the bill went far enough to eviscerate Obamacare.

Not to be outdone, Democrats seized the debate to try to force votes on gun control legislation that could put some Republicans in a politically tough position as the country is reeling from a recent spate of mass shootings.

So it hasn’t been exactly smooth sailing to win over 51 Republican votes. Those two provisions would take effect in two years, giving Republicans until after the 2016 election to come up with a new plan to replace the existing program. Much to the annoyance of Democrats. The only Democrat to vote against the amendment was Sen. Dick Durbin of IL. They show Republicans directly confronting the president, getting legislation to his desk that he doesn’t like – something they weren’t able to do when Democrats controlled the Senate previous year.

But Durbin scoffed at that idea.

That it also removes penalties on individuals who do not buy insurance ostensibly helps the little people, but, hmmm, we should interrogate that a little. “In the Senate, Sen”.