Senate Approves Bill To Cripple Obamacare Law

After the house’s expected approval of the bill, the legislation will be the first to reach President Obama’s desk demolishing his health care law and blocking Planned Parenthood’s federal money.

However, the White House earlier this week said President Barack Obama will veto the measure. The vote allows conservatives in the GOP to express their opposition and force a veto, putting the responsibility for any problems with the health law on Democrats.

The final decision on the bill is expected in the next two days after the final vote on reviving the Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act that is expected to take place by the end of the week.

It zeros out the penalties on individuals who do not buy insurance and employers who do not offer health insurance. Democrats were also unable to stop the Republican legislation, which was brought under reconciliation rules that prohibited a filibuster, according to the report.

Here are five things to know about the Republican repeal bill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Obamacare has raised health care costs, limited patients’ ability to choose their doctors, and hurt the already struggling middle class.

In another largely party-line vote, the House voted 240 to 189 to approve similar legislation in October, although changes to the language of the Senate version of the bill will require another vote in the House.

With just a 54-46 edge, Republicans had previously failed to push such legislation through the Senate. Planned Parenthood is a private organization that is fully capable of funding itself.

Democrats have blocked previous attempts and the US Supreme Court has forced states to comply. Federal funds can be used for abortions only in rare cases.

“I think Virginians are going to be very excited about this vote today”, said Jessica Cochrane, executive vice president at The Family Foundation.

Planned Parenthood spokesman Dawn Laguens said the Senate had given the group’s millions of clients “the cold shoulder of indifference”.

It is little more than a symbolic move, since President Obama will veto the bill without hesitation and Republicans have nowhere near the majorities necessary to override his veto. “The 325,000 lives it destroys every year are 325,000 reasons to redirect taxpayer funds to groups that provide health care without taking innocent lives”. The measure has strong bipartisan support, although the three Republican presidential candidates in the Senate (Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio) all voted against it. Rubio’s opposition came because the bill “spends too much, preserves Washington’s power in picking winners and losers in transportation funding, and even revives the crony capitalist Export-Import Bank”.