US House backs healthcare law repeal
US: The Republican-led US House of Representatives passed legislation
that would repeal President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare reform
law on Wednesday in a mostly symbolic move likely to be scuttled in the
Senate.
The House voted 245-189 to approve the Republican bill that would
scrap the law, which was passed by Congress last year after a bitter
debate and signed by Obama when his fellow Democrats still controlled
both the House and Senate.
The unified House Republicans were joined by three Democrats in
backing the bill, which also needs Senate passage but is unlikely to get
it. The Senate remains under Democratic control and is not expected to
take up the repeal legislation.
Even if the Senate were to pass the measure, Obama has vowed to veto
any effort to repeal the healthcare law, one of his biggest legislative
victories. Republican leaders said they were committed to trying to
repeal it in order to honor a campaign pledge that helped them win
control of the House and gain seats in the Senate in congressional
elections last November.
“Our pledge was to repeal ‘Obamacare,’” said House Speaker John
Boehner, using a derisive term for the law. “Why? Because it is going to
increase spending, increase taxes and destroy jobs in America.”
Polls show that Americans are split on the law. An ABC
News/Washington Post poll this week found that more Americans now
believe it will hurt rather than help the struggling U.S. economy. But
the poll also showed that just 18 percent favor full repeal of the law.
Republicans say the law saddles businesses with high costs and
complicated regulations. Democrats say the law is an historic move to
deliver health insurance to more than 30 million people who currently
cannot afford it while also lowering medical costs and providing more
consumer protections. Washington, Thursday, Reuters |