Republicans still fighting to repeal Obama’s health rules
REPUBLICANS in the House of Representatives plan to hold a vote this month to repeal President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul and say they have nearly enough support to override a presidential veto of the repeal, a top lawmaker said yesterday.
“Unpopularity numbers are as high as 60 per cent across the country,” Fred Upton, the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said of the healthcare law.
“I don’t think we’re going to be that far off from having the votes to actually override a veto,” Upton said.
Democrats contend Republicans are wasting Congress’ time by staging a healthcare repeal vote, saying it will die in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
But Upton said a big House vote for repeal could sway votes in the Senate “to perhaps do the same thing. But then, after that, we’re going to go after this bill piece by piece,” he said, by trying to block various parts of the law including an individual mandate for insurance coverage.
But Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that people are learning more about benefits of the healthcare law, diminishing chances it will be defeated.
“It’s not going to happen,” she said.