(Photo : en.wikipedia.org) United States Congress
The House of Representatives voted in favor of a measure that would make key parts of Obamacare void and cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood for a year.
The legislation, which rendered a 240-189 vote in the House, would now move on to the Senate for a vote.
If the measure comes to pass, it would remove the Affordable Care Act's requirement that most individuals who are not insured by their employers purchase individual health insurance, and that most employers offer health insurance for their employees. A tax on certain medical devices would also be removed.
Additionally, the bill was passed under a budget rule called "reconciliation," which expedites the passing of a bill if it would reduce the federal deficit. The bill would then only require 51 votes in favor in the Senate, as opposed to the normal 60 votes.
However, many are skeptical that the measure would actually pass even then. Most, if not all, of the Democrats in the Senate are likely to oppose the measure, while many Republicans also oppose it for either going too far, or not far enough.
"This simply isn't good enough," Senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, and Marco Rubio of Florida, said in a joint press release Thursday. "Each of us campaigned on a promise to fully repeal Obamacare ... With millions of Americans now getting health premium increase notices in the mail, we owe our constituents nothing less."
Some Republicans argue that the measure couldn't push to repeal Obamacare in its entirety because it was passed on to Senate under reconciliation, meaning the bill must have a positive financial impact for the federal deficit. Doug Andres, speaking on behalf of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, told the Chicago Tribune, "If you repeal the entire [Affordable Care Act], you cannot use reconciliation because that would add to the deficit."
Democrats say that the bill would take away affordable health care for millions of Americans.
"This is a hyper-partisan document that is just talking points for extremists," Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif) told the Associated Press.
"We understand that the Affordable Care Act's not perfect," said Representative Chris Van Hollen, the senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee. "But a piece of legislation that takes away affordable health care to 15 million Americans, that is nothing to celebrate."
Tom Price (R-Ga.), the Budget Committee Chairman, argued that the measure would reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion in 10 years, according the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation.
"Obamacare puts Washington in charge," Price was quoted by USA Today. "We want to put the American people in charge of their own health care decisions."
President Obama has also stated his intentions that he would veto the bill should it pass through the Senate and reach his desk.
Supporters of the bill say that pushing Obama to veto the bill in and of itself may be good enough.
"This is our best opportunity to date to put the bill on the president's desk and show the American people where his priorities lie," Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn, told Fox News.
"Is he going to finally stand up for American workers and sign this bill or will he continue to support a law that's destroying jobs?" Representative Steve Scalise, House Majority Whip, told Reuters.
This is the Republican lawmakers' 61st attempt to try to repeal portions of, or all of, the Affordable Care Act since it was established.
