Senate passes symbolic Obamacare repeal, assuring veto

The Senate voted Thursday to repeal key provisions of Obamacare and strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood, approving legislation that is sure to be vetoed by President Obama.

Democrats in the Senate have blocked some 61 previous Republican attempts aimed at rolling back the landmark 2010 legislation created to provide health care for millions of uninsured Americans.

Yet the legislation, passed under special Senate budget rules known as reconciliation, is still a significant accomplishment for Republicans, according to Politico. With Republicans lacking the two-thirds House and Senate majorities needed for a successful override, debate on the measure became a political messaging battlefield as both parties looked toward the 2016 presidential and congressional campaigns.

“Everybody knows (repeal) is a gesture in futility”, said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., before the vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that Obamacare has already led to more expensive health care, limited options for patients to choose their doctors, and additional burden to the struggling middle class. McConnell added that Obama and Democrats have a responsibility to the “millions his law has hurt”, and just sign the repeal.

The bill passed by the Senate would end financial penalties for individuals and companies that don’t follow the law’s requirement that they buy insurance for themselves and their workers.

Anti-abortion lawmakers cited the videos as proof that Planned Parenthood must be shut down, but failed in their attempt to cut off federal funding in September and October.

Planned Parenthood, a longtime target of anti-abortion forces, has come under fire after secretly recorded videos showed group officials discussing their provision of fetal tissue to scientists. “Another charade may make some Republican senators feel better, but it won’t make law”. Senator John Coryn of Texas put forth an amendment delaying gun sales to suspected terrorists, while Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa wanted to criminalize gun trafficking and increase mental health funding, as well as funding for prosecuting felons who fail background checks. The G-O-P controlled House has voted dozens of times to repeal it.

Earlier this week, a gunman entered Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs in a five-hour siege that left three people dead, including a police officer.

The new bill goes far beyond that, repealing the two main programs responsible for significantly expanding health care coverage in the past two years. Obama said at the time that the law has helped tens of millions of Americans and is here to stay. A conservative aide tells Breitbart News that Senate leadership is finally following their lead in keeping their promises to the American people who elected them.