Repeal the health care bill

Full repeal seems unlikely

Updated: Thursday, March 17th, 2011 | By Angie Drobnic Holan

The last time we checked in on this promise, we noted that the U.S. House of Representatives had succeeded in passing a repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The measure passed largely along partisan lines, with three Democrats crossing the aisle on a 245 to 189 vote.

On Feb. 2, 2011, the Senate voted on an amendment proposed by Republican minority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell to repeal the health care law. That  failed on 47-51 vote along party lines.

Greta Van Susteren of Fox News interviewed McConnell shortly after the vote, asking his reaction.

"First, we promised the American people we would try to repeal it,” McConnell said. "The House passed the repeal. We came up short. It was a party line vote with every Republican voting to repeal. Now we go after it piece by piece. There are bills introduced to eliminate the mandate, the individual mandate. We know that's in court as well. There are bills giving states the option to pull out. So, we'll be offering other amendments as we move along to try to dismantle this.”

We should note that on Jan.26,  Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., introduced a stand-alone bill in the Senate,  to repeal the law. All 47 Republican senators signed on as co-sponsors, but it has not received any action since its introduction.

It's clear from the Senate vote on McConnell"s amendment that Republicans likely will not achieve a straightforward full repeal of the health care law. But McConnell"s remarks indicate the Republicans aren"t done trying. So for now we rate this promise Stalled.

Sources:

U.S. Senate, Amendment to repeal the job-killing health care law and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010,Feb. 2, 2011

U.S. House of Representatives,Final vote result, Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, Jan. 19, 2011

THOMAS, S 192, Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, introduced Jan. 26, 2011

Fox News, GOP Mulls Methodical Dismantling of 'Obamacare' After Senate Repeal Vote Fails, Feb. 3, 2011

House of Representatives passes repeal law

Updated: Thursday, January 20th, 2011 | By Angie Drobnic Holan

In one of the first votes of the new Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to repeal the health care law that Democrats passed last year. Wednesday's 245 to 189 vote was largely along partisan lines, with three Democrats crossing the aisle to vote with Republicans for the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act."

"I just think it's time to listen to the American people and to do this the right way," said Speaker of the House John Boehner. "The Congress can do better in terms of replacing Obamacare with commonsense reforms that will bring down the cost of health insurance and expand access to more Americans."

To actually repeal the health care law, the bill would have to pass the Senate and be signed by the president. Democrats still control the Senate and have said they will not bring the bill up for a vote. And if it did pass, the White House has indicated President Obama would veto it. The bill would then require two-thirds majority votes in each chamber to pass. So it seems unlikely a full repeal will happen anytime soon.

Still, the House vote is a significant step and enough to move this to In the Works. We'll revisit our rating after we see how it's handled in the Senate.

Sources:

U.S. House of Representatives, Final vote result, Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, Jan. 19, 2011

CQ Transcriptions, House Republicans press conference, Jan. 19, 2011, via Nexis