Senate votes for first time to repeal Obamacare, defund Planned Parenthood

In another stunning display of wasted time on Thursday night, Mitch McConnell’s Republican Senate voted 52-47 to repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood.

By voting to nullify Obamacare – the signature domestic accomplishment of the Obama administration – GOP congressional leaders fulfilled a longtime pledge to voters and rank-and-file members to get a repeal to President Barack Obama’s desk, even though he will veto it.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said that the repeal is a “gesture in futility”.

Republicans fault the law for rising health care premiums and deductibles and a diminished choice of insurance providers in some markets. They said Americans’ coverage has improved, with policies now required to insure a wide range of medical services.

The overall GOP bill headed to the Senate would effectively defang the health law’s requirements for individual and employer-provided coverage by annulling the fines that enforce them. Anti-abortion activists have released videos earlier this year, claiming that Planned Parenthood makes profit by selling tissues of unborn babies.

Some Republican senators did support what should be a bipartisan issue-Senators Mark Kirk (Illinois), Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania), Susan Collins (Maine), and John McCain (Arizona) all voted in favor of expanding background checks.

The measure guts Obamacare by repealing authority for the federal government to run healthcare exchanges and scrapping subsidies to help people afford plans bought through those exchanges, according to The Hill.

Thursday’s vote in the Senate was the first that tacked on an amendment blocking Planned Parenthood’s federal money.

Thomas Miller, a health care policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said the reconciliation measure’s passage “does open up some express lanes or procedural moves for a 2017 environment, in terms of what you can do legislatively”. The group says the videos were deceptively doctored and say it has done nothing illegal. Furthermore, a bill passed by both houses now could streamline future attempts to successfully repeal the law in the event they won control of the Oval Office and Congress in 2016.

The House of Representatives is expected to send the bill to President Obama in the coming days. Their last major effort came after 20 children and 6 adults were killed by a gunman in Newtown, Connecticut, three years ago. However, if a Republican President is elected next November, there is now every confidence that a similar bill will finally accomplish the defunding goal. After that, President Obama has guaranteed he will veto it.

“While the president will likely veto the bill and prioritize his own legacy over the well-being of American families, this debate is far from over”, said South Dakota Sen.