Congress plans to send a bill to President Obama next week that repeals major parts of Obamacare and defunds Planned Parenthood, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday.
The bill is sure to be vetoed by Obama, who has threatened to do so. However, the legislation addresses anger from the conservative base that Congress has been unsuccessful in counteracting Obama’s agenda despite holding both chambers of Congress.
The bill passed the House easily and passed the Senate by a slim vote of 52-47 thanks to a process called reconciliation that enables the Senate to bypass a filibuster and pass legislation on a straight majority vote.
The process is used for only budgetary items, so the House crafted the legislation to only focus on fiscal items of Obamacare. The bill would strip key pillars of the healthcare law, including its individual and employer mandates and the taxes on pricey health plans and medical devices.
The bill also would defund Planned Parenthood, ensuring the women’s health and abortion provider doesn’t receive $500,000 in annual federal funding.
The provision is in response to a major scandal that erupted when undercover videos showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the prices for harvesting of aborted fetal body parts.
It is illegal to sell body parts for profit, but the organization has repeatedly said it didn’t violate any laws. The organization noted that it gets reimbursed only for costs such as transportation and doesn’t make a profit.
