House Speaker Paul Ryan signed a bill that would gut Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood, sending a bill for the first time to President Obama that repeals the controversial healthcare law.
The president has threatened to veto the bill, but that doesn’t appear to matter to congressional Republicans who were jubilant at the ceremony Thursday. The House passed the bill by a largely partisan vote 240-181 Wednesday.
“With a Republican president there is a clear path to repealing Obamacare without needing 60 votes in the United States Senate,” said Ryan, surrounded by House leadership and several committee chairmen and other members.
Republicans can now tell a restless conservative base that they put a repeal bill on the president’s desk. The other 60 or so times the House voted for repeal the effort died in the Senate.
This time, Republicans used a procedure called reconciliation that allows the Senate to pass a measure through a simple majority vote rather than the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster.
To do this, Republicans crafted the bill so that it addresses budgetary and spending levels, per the requirements for the reconciliation process.
Democrats have clamored that the repeal bill is a waste of time.
“This is a sad and shameful way to begin the new year here in the U.S. Congress,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Wednesday during the vote. “While the calendar has changed, the Tea Party Republican agenda remains the same.”
Democrats also have criticized Republicans for putting forth a repeal bill but with no concrete replacement plan.
On Thursday, Republicans signaled that a replacement bill is next on their agenda.
“We will enact common sense patient-centered reform,” said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., chairman of the House Budget Committee.
