Republicans in Congress Finally Send ObamaCare Repeal Bill to President’s Desk

Though it has zero chance of not being vetoed, both houses in the Republican-controlled Congress have sent an ObamaCare repeal bill to the president’s desk. The House by 240-181 approved the Senate amendment and passed the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act (H.R. 3762), which repeals Obamacare and defunds Planned Parenthood.

“For five years, Senate Democrats have blocked our efforts to repeal Obamacare. That ends today,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Ohio, said in a statement. “With this vote, we are keeping a promise and putting a bill that repeals ObamaCare and defunds Planned Parenthood on the president’s desk.”

The new speaker says his next move will be to build a consensus for and pass a replacement bill–also for the first time–to disarm Democrats’ long- and oft-repeated claims that they have no alternative. Indeed, one Democrat did break party lines and vote “yeah” with the Republican rank-and-file, according to the official roll call (below).

Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., originally voted against the bill in 2010 and supported subsequent bills aimed at preventing the federal funding of abortions due to the ACA. In 2010, he was endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee and the National Rifle Association. In 2011, Rep. Peterson co-sponsored H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.

“This budget reconciliation bill, which would reduce the federal deficit by a half trillion dollars, forces the president to confront the failures of ObamaCare head on,” Speaker Ryan added. “But most importantly, it clears the path to repealing this law with a Republican president in 2017 and replacing it with a truly patient-centered health care system. We will not back down from this fight to defend the sanctity of life and make quality health care coverage achievable for all Americans.”

Conservative critics have long cited the unpopularity of the president’s signature healthcare law and one of the most effective campaign messages for Republican candidates since 2010. According to the PPD aggregate average of ObamaCare approval rating polls, the American people are still deeply opposed to the healthcare overhaul. The spread in opposition to ObamaCare has consistently remained around 10 percentage points, where it roughly stands now.

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FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 2(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)
H RES 579      YEA-AND-NAY      6-Jan-2016      3:30 PM
QUESTION:  On Ordering the Previous Question
BILL TITLE: Providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 3762) to provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 2002 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2016

	YEAS	NAYS	PRES	NV
REPUBLICAN	238			7
DEMOCRATIC	1	175		12
INDEPENDENT
TOTALS	239	175		19

—- YEAS    239 — 

Abraham Aderholt Allen Amash Amodei Babin Barletta Barr Barton Benishek Bilirakis Bishop (MI) Bishop (UT) Black Blackburn Blum Bost Boustany Brady (TX) Brat Bridenstine Brooks (AL) Brooks (IN) Buchanan Buck Bucshon Burgess Calvert Carter (GA) Carter (TX) Chabot Chaffetz Clawson (FL) Coffman Cole Collins (GA) Collins (NY) Comstock Conaway Cook Costello (PA) Cramer Crawford Crenshaw Culberson Curbelo (FL) Davis, Rodney Denham Dent DeSantis DesJarlais Diaz-Balart Dold Donovan Duffy Duncan (SC) Duncan (TN) Ellmers (NC) Emmer (MN) Farenthold Fincher Fitzpatrick Fleischmann Fleming Flores Forbes Fortenberry Foxx Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Garrett Gibbs Gibson Gohmert Goodlatte Gosar Gowdy Granger Graves (GA) Graves (LA)

Graves (MO) Griffith Grothman Guinta Guthrie Hanna Hardy Harper Harris Hartzler Heck (NV) Hensarling Herrera Beutler Hice, Jody B. Hill Holding Hudson Huelskamp Huizenga (MI) Hultgren Hunter Hurd (TX) Hurt (VA) Jenkins (KS) Jenkins (WV) Johnson (OH) Johnson, Sam Jolly Jones Jordan Joyce Katko Kelly (MS) Kelly (PA) King (NY) Kinzinger (IL) Kline Knight Labrador LaHood LaMalfa Lamborn Lance Latta LoBiondo Long Loudermilk Love Lucas Luetkemeyer Lummis MacArthur Marchant Marino Massie McCarthy McCaul McClintock McHenry McKinley McMorris Rodgers McSally Meadows Meehan Messer Mica Miller (FL) Moolenaar Mooney (WV) Mullin Mulvaney Murphy (PA) Neugebauer Newhouse Noem Nunes Olson Palazzo Palmer Paulsen

Pearce Perry Peterson Pittenger Pitts Poe (TX) Poliquin Pompeo Posey Price, Tom Ratcliffe Reed Reichert Renacci Ribble Rice (SC) Roby Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rohrabacher Rokita Rooney (FL) Ros-Lehtinen Roskam Ross Rothfus Rouzer Royce Russell Salmon Sanford Scalise Schweikert Scott, Austin Sensenbrenner Sessions Shimkus Shuster Simpson Smith (MO) Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Stefanik Stewart Stivers Stutzman Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tiberi Tipton Trott Turner Upton Valadao Wagner Walberg Walden Walker Walorski Walters, Mimi Weber (TX) Wenstrup Westerman Westmoreland Whitfield Williams Wilson (SC) Wittman Womack Woodall Yoder Yoho Young (AK) Young (IA) Young (IN) Zeldin Zinke

—- NAYS    175 — 

Adams Aguilar Ashford Bass Beatty Becerra Bera Beyer Bishop (GA) Blumenauer Bonamici Boyle, Brendan F. Brady (PA) Brown (FL) Brownley (CA) Bustos Butterfield Capps Capuano Cárdenas Carney Carson (IN) Cartwright Castor (FL) Castro (TX) Chu, Judy Cicilline Clark (MA) Clarke (NY) Clay Clyburn Cohen Connolly Conyers Cooper Costa Courtney Crowley Cuellar Cummings Davis (CA) Davis, Danny DeFazio DeGette Delaney DelBene DeSaulnier Deutch Dingell Doggett Doyle, Michael F. Duckworth Edwards Ellison Engel Eshoo Esty Farr Fattah

Foster Frankel (FL) Fudge Gabbard Gallego Garamendi Graham Grayson Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva Gutiérrez Hahn Hastings Heck (WA) Higgins Himes Honda Hoyer Israel Jackson Lee Jeffries Johnson (GA) Kaptur Keating Kelly (IL) Kildee Kilmer Kirkpatrick Kuster Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lawrence Lee Levin Lewis Lieu, Ted Lipinski Loebsack Lofgren Lowenthal Lowey Lujan Grisham (NM) Luján, Ben Ray (NM) Lynch Maloney, Carolyn Maloney, Sean Matsui McCollum McDermott McGovern McNerney Meeks Meng Moore Moulton Murphy (FL) Nadler

Napolitano Neal Nolan Norcross O’Rourke Pallone Pascrell Pelosi Perlmutter Peters Pingree Pocan Polis Price (NC) Quigley Rangel Rice (NY) Richmond Roybal-Allard Ruiz Ruppersberger Sánchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Schakowsky Schiff Schrader Scott (VA) Scott, David Serrano Sewell (AL) Sherman Sinema Sires Slaughter Smith (WA) Speier Swalwell (CA) Takano Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Tonko Torres Tsongas Van Hollen Vargas Veasey Vela Velázquez Visclosky Walz Wasserman Schultz Waters, Maxine Watson Coleman Welch Wilson (FL) Yarmuth

—- NOT VOTING    19 — 

Byrne Cleaver DeLauro Hinojosa Huffman Issa Johnson, E. B.

Kennedy Kind King (IA) Miller (MI) Nugent Payne Rigell

Rush Ryan (OH) Takai Titus Webster (FL)