In a largely symbolic vote, the House on Wednesday voted largely along party lines to repeal President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
The 244-185 vote saw five Democrats cross party lines joining and served as a representation of the House majority’s commitment to repealing the health law.
But Democrats aren’t fretting about the Repeal Obamacare Act advancing passed the House, often times blasting Republicans for wasting time that could otherwise be spent focusing on jobs legislation.
“It’s unfortunate that the Republican leadership has chosen to set jobs aside… to spend time on partisan messaging,” Hoyer said. “This bill has no chance of going anywhere.”
President Obama has already vowed to veto the bill should it – by some miracle – advances through the Senate.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), on the other hand, stood steadfast on the House floor arguing that the health law is “making our economy worse, driving up the costs of Healthcare and making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers.”
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) echoed the Speaker’s sentiment and argued that the Supreme Court’s decision showed the law’s true colors labeling it as a tax.
“Taking away choice and driving up costs is not the prescription Americans asked for,” Cantor said.
Still, Democrats remained determined win the messaging war. The House’s top Democrat Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) jabbed the right.
“For the past two days we have heard the talking points of the health insurance industry,” Pelosi said. “This is a useless bill to nowhere.”
The bill now advances to the Senate where Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is in the middle of a tax tussle with Senate GOP’ers looking to win that message by requesting a vote on the president’s tax cut proposal while some Democratic defectors remain.
