prev
next
Political Hotsheet
House to Vote to Repeal Health Care Reform on Jan. 12th
Incoming House Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and President Barack Obama.
/ AP PhotoUpdated 11:45 p.m. Eastern Time
Moving aggressively on one of their signature issues, newly-empowered House Republicans plan to vote to repeal President Obama's health care reform legislation on January 12th.
"Obamacare is a job killer for businesses small and large, and the top priority for House Republicans is going to be to cut spending and grow the economy and jobs," said Brad Dayspring, spokesman for Majority Leader-Elect Eric Cantor. "Further, ObamaCare failed to lower costs as the President promised that it would and does not allow people to keep the care they currently have if they like it. That is why the House will repeal it next week."
Indeed, Republicans, who control the House in the new Congress, have more than enough votes to pass a repeal bill if their caucus holds together, as it likely will. But the measure will then almost surely stall in the Senate, where Democrats (who still control the chamber) can simply refuse to bring the bill to the floor. Even if the Senate were to consider the measure, it's hard to imagine that Republicans could find 60 votes to overcome a likely Democrat-led filibuster.
Republicans control 48 Senate votes, which means that 12 Democrats would have to break ranks to get the bill to the president's desk. In the unlikely event that the bill does somehow get through the Senate, Mr. Obama will veto it, sending it back to both chambers, where it would need a two-thirds majority for a veto override.
GOP Rep. Fred Upton (Mich.), the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Sunday the votes exist in the House to overcome a veto.
"We have 242 Republicans. There will be a significant number of Democrats, I think, that will join us," he said.
Five Senate Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid, released a statement in response to the House GOP's planned vote spotlighting one of the popular facets of the health care reform bill - the fix to the Medicare "donut hole" that went into effect over the weekend. ("Donut hole" refers to the gap that forces seniors to pay all of their prescription drug costs above a certain threshold until the costs rise to "catastrophic" levels.)
"We urge you to consider the unintended consequences that the law's repeal would have on a number of popular consumer protections that help middle class Americans," they wrote. "The 'donut hole' fix is just one measure that would be threatened by a repeal effort. Taking this benefit away from seniors would be irresponsible and reckless at a time when it is becoming harder and harder for seniors to afford a healthy retirement."
House Republicans posted the two-page repeal bill online Monday night. (PDF) It is called "the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act."
If and when the repeal bill stalls, expect Republicans to try to chip away at the health care bill by other means. This can be done both by repealing specific provisions and by choking off funding for implementation, a path that could lead to a government shutdown. They also hope court challenges to the bill, focused on its individual mandate for coverage, mean it gets struck down on legal grounds. The health care reform laws are being phased in slowly, and the individual mandate does not go into effect until 2014.
While polls show the health care reform overhaul remains unpopular overall, most Americans support many of its major provisions - which means you can expect Democrats to keep spotlighting those provisions as the GOP pushes for repeal. Republicans have vowed to "repeal and replace" what they have termed "Obamacare," though it remains unclear what their alternate reform bill would look like.
Popular in Politics
- FBI director acknowledges domestic drone use 145 Comments
- Obama and Berlin: Faded echoes meet new realities
- Obama on NSA programs: Americans "not getting the complete story" 259 Comments
- GOP Sen. Murkowski backs same-sex marriage
- Immigration reform would cut deficit, analysis shows 82 Comments
- House Republicans pass 20-week limit on abortions 591 Comments
- Next up for Obama: Major effort on climate change
- IRS readying to pay $70M in employee bonuses, senator says
Most Popular
-
01
-
02
-
03
-
04
-
05
Most Shared
Most Discussed
The one where Issa-the-new-McCarthy asks BUSINESS what regulations they want investigated...
I know several Canadians and none of them have nearly as much political disagreement with their leadership or each other as we do, they seem pretty content with their life.
The USA is a great country, but to people in other countries, it just isn't necessarily the greatest shining light on the hill ever to be seen on planet Earth. That shouldn't be difficult to understand.
I concur in Canada THEY tell you where to go right?
WRONG. We can go wherever we like. We can go to whatever hospital we want and we will get the SAME quality in care. Good quality. A particular specialist may operate in only one hospital (possibly more), but I have a choice in which specialist I go to. I have a choice in everything I do.
I can go to any pharmacy and know that I'm not being ripped off. There may be a few dollars difference between them, but that's it. And here, we KNOW that what it says is in that bottle, is indeed what's in that bottle.
"....we are, were fighting TWO wars) what does Canada spend that money on?"
Lots of things. It isn't just health care. How about EDUCATION? Unlike you, we have a good education system. When a person graduates here, they know how to read. All Canadians know how to find themselves on a map. We learn about OTHER countries, not just our own.
Oh, and you aren't the only ones fighting in those two wars!
Oh and "In 2003, under Prime Minister Jean Chr?tien, about a hundred Canadian soldiers, on exchange to American units, participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Are you absolutely sure about that? I think maybe you might want to do a bit more research. A lot of people don't even know that there were Canadians in Iraq. It was something that was kept a secret.
"Oh and as far as education goes the US spends more per pupil then Canada does."
Well that's not surprising is it? You pay more for everything and have nothing to show for it. You pay thousands of dollars more for health care and it isn't better than anyone elses. In fact it isn't as good as everyone elses. You pay way more for your meds and there is no guarantee that you are even getting what it says on the bottle.
I wouldn't be bragging that you are paying more for each student because it's a well known fact that your education system sucks. When you have people that are graduating and can't read, people that can't find their country on a map, you've got big problems. I don't know where that money is going, but it ain't going for education.
Oh and "WRONG. We can go wherever we like. you mean as long as it's a government clinic, specialist.... right cuz last I heard if you don't trust them and go to a "private" one it's ALL out of your pocket.
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. We do not have "private" clinics. And we do trust our clinics. We have "private" hospitals, but very few. Most people DO NOT go to private hospitals. And do not WANT to go to private hospitals. They want to live! I already told you that if a hospital is private, there is no control over the competence of the health care workers or the cleanliness. Once something becomes private, the people have no control over it and how it is operated.
You have people watching other people dying on the floors in your hosptials. Dying from massive infections. I read that a hospital had CARPETS on their floors! How ridiculous is that? How do you keep a carpet clean on a daily basis? Floors need to be washed and disinfected EVERYDAY!
There really isn't any need for private clinics because we are all well looked after with the ones we have.
And we do not have "government" doctors or specialists. They all operate on their own. They do not have to discuss their decisions with the insurance companies or the government.
You really should shut up. You like looking stupid?
Erasmus, are you that brain dead not to understand the answer. Maybe I should speak Canadian. Maybe you will understand!
I understand everything. It's you that is the idiot.
"You asked why we have to shop around. It is the same reason we shop for anything. We look for excellence and affordability."
We are talking about LIFE here, not some car. And what you aren't comprehending is that when we go to a hospital, they aren't trying to outdo each other to see who can rip you off for the most money. Every hospital strives for excellence. They don't want people dying from infections and incompetence.
"Again, we got the BEST care possible and in a very timely manner. Sure, we paid a little more for it."
And what you aren't comprehending is that we get the BEST possible care, in a timely manner, AND without having to spend more. You think that you are getting a better quality care because you are spending a fortune, but you aren't. You are just being ripped off.
You cant have them all the same. Pursuing excellence helps get rid of the slackers. If you are good, people will pay! Which makes you strive to be better.
When I am on the table getting heart surgery (or you are on the table getting brain surgery), we should both want the best damn surgeon that we can afford!! I want my surgeon motivated to be the best, and be paid for being the best. Otherwise, there is no incentive to be the best.
And no you dont. I looked at the wait times in Canada or thyroid cancer surgery. I looked at the availability of MRIs and wait times to have this sports surgery on my son's elbow.
Your healthcare didnt even come close to what we received. Not even close!
I wouldn't put too much trust in what you are reading. I don't think that you are capable of finding the truth. I think Wikipedia is about all you can do.
Here, EVERY hospital strives for excellence. You have too many Private hospitals where the people have no control over who is running them. When it is private, you can count on the quality being bad. It's about MONEY. They get incompetent health care givers and also poor cleanliness. Every hospital here has to meet a certain standard.
I don't know of any long waits for MRIs. My mom was at the doctor on Friday and she is having an MRI today.
Hungry, the meeting was me to give guidance to my financial guys and with a few of my employees on how we would proceed forward on going after that failed business' customers.
I gave my guidance...got some feedback. And now they are in there hashing out the details and will report back to me next week on the results.
Its called business. Something you dont know anything about, Hungry.
You're FOS - as usual.
Canada total tax and non-tax revenue for every level of government equals about 38.4% of GDP,[2] compared to the U.S. rate of 28.2%. (and we are, were fighting TWO wars) what does Canada spend that money on?
--------------
I love how you cherry pick your information so it suits your argument (from Wiki no less) but you tend to leave out very important details
i.e.
Canada's income tax system is more heavily biased against the highest income earners, thus while Canada's income tax rate is higher on average, the bottom fifty percent of the population is roughly taxed the same on income as in the United States.
I guess they are.
I thought you had to leave to leverage a buyout of your competition and work to get all of their customers?
I guess blogging here is more important to you?
I went to my meeting genius. And now I'm back. Man. you really are dense!
---------------
LOL yeah, shortest business meeting in history.
Man, you are by far the biggest liar on these boards.
You should apply over at Fox... they have better liars, but you can be trained
A 1:30 meeting to buyout the bankrupt competition AND to plan how you're going to keep all of their customers, and you're back in 25 minutes, huh?
Again, business models arent the issue. The issue is looking for a mechanic, a doctor, a vet, a restuarant, etc. We do this because we want to seek excellence...at least as much as we can afford.
That is the type of program we need. Where EVERYONE in the system is about excellence...and seeks profit. Which breeds excellence. But that can only happen without the corruption of government when the government doesnt skew the field as it has for decades.
=====
Of course you will just ignore the complexity of the real world, in order to think you a making a valid point.
And you wonder why no one in DC cares about your opinion.
Or is this a new day and we shouldn't hold you accountable for anything you said yesterday?