Senate vote clears path for ObamaCare

Republicans are pushing toward Senate approval of legislation demolishing President Barack Obama’s signature health care law and halting Planned Parenthood’s federal money, setting up a veto fight the GOP knows it will lose but thinks will delight conservative voters.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 52-47 to repeal several core provisions in the legislation, using special budget rules that allow for a vote with a simple majority. Democrats in the Senate have blocked more than 60 previous Republican attempts aimed at rolling back the 2010 legislation created to provide health care for millions of uninsured Americans.

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. But most people buying insurance on the exchange receive large subsidies to offset the cost. One attempt was made by Senate Democrats and the other made by a group of moderate Senate Republicans. Tom Cotton also said Planned Parenthood has “proven itself unworthy of government support”.

The bill also repeals the over-the-counter medicine tax, the prescription drug tax, and an annual fee on health insurers, The Hill said. Just as Democrats planned to bring amendments to the floor Thursday that would require Republicans to vote on gun control measures, the Planned Parenthood vote is mainly a way for senators to put their opinion on the public record and draw contrasts between the two parties. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida would support the bill.

In addition to repealing Obamacare, the new bill would defund Planned Parenthood of the roughly $450 million the government budgets yearly for the organization. The group has said the videos were deceptively doctored and that it’s done nothing illegal. All Senate Republicans except Senators Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Susan Collins (R-ME) voted for the measure.

An independent investigation ordered by Gov. Mike Pence of Planned Parenthood of IN and Kentucky had already found no violations of state law at the time of Donnelly’s original vote.

“Federal funds do not pay for abortion to begin with”, said Cathy Easter, executive director at Safe Harbor Shelter in Richmond.

When Americans went around the table last Thursday to say what they were grateful for, ObamaCare probably wasn’t one of them.

But the bill still needs to be approved by the House of Representatives.