Today in Washington, D.C. - Mar 24, 2010 - "Repeal And Replace" ObamaCare

Senate resumed debate on the reconciliation bill of changes (H.R. 4872) to the health care bill passed by the House Sunday night.  This morning, 13 hours of debate remained of the 20 hours allotted under reconciliation rules. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yielded back all of Democrats’ debate time, leaving about 8 hours of GOP time to consume. Amendments and motions are expected to be offered to the bill throughout the day.  When debate time has been consumed, a “vote-a-rama” on all pending amendments will begin, which could last well into the night.

Here is an updating list of GOP amendments as they’re offered. Since any changes to the bill would send it back to the House, Democrats are saying they’ll vote down all amendments.

Among the amendments Republicans have offered: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has one to deny Viagra to rapists and molesters, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) has one that would require any Medicare savings be spent to make the program solvent, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has one to strip sweetheart deals from the bill, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has one requiring President Obama and White House staff to use the health exchanges created in the bill, and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) has one to strike the employer mandate.

On Monday, the House passed H.R. 4887 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure that health coverage provided by the Department of Defense is treated as minimal essential coverage.  Yes, the IRS is going to check on our health care programs.  H.R.4887 is now at the Senate but has not been acted upon because of the health care reconciliation bill.  It is essential that the TRICARE for the active and retired military families be protected.  In serving our country, military members and their families options to health care were resident military hospitals or TRICARE.  Also, TRICARE was set forth by the military as part of military retirement and for spouses and children of military member died on active duty.  President Obama  said at the VFW national convention last year that he would protect this programs.  For now, military,  miliary retirees and their families wait in limbo.

Yesterday House and Senate Republicans rolled out a unified GOP message in the aftermath of President Obama’s signing of his massive $2.5 trillion health care spending bill into law. As The New York Times reported yesterday, “Republicans are moving quickly from ‘repeal’ the health care legislation to ‘repeal and replace’ the measure President Obama signed into law Tuesday. Meeting with reporters after a private party strategy meeting, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, took pains to say that Republicans will push not only to overturn the law, but that they intend to replace it with something else. ‘I think the slogan will be “repeal and replace”, “repeal and replace,”’ Mr. McConnell said. ‘No one that I know in the Republican conference in the Senate believes that no action is appropriate.’”

Even before Sen. McConnell spoke to reporters, Republicans were making the same argument all over the country. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) told Politico, “We should repeal it and replace it with reform.” House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) said, “We’re talking about ‘repeal and replace. Don’t leave out my ‘and.’” Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said, “I’ll keep working to repeal this colossal government takeover of health care and replace it with sensible solutions.” Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) told CNN, “Eventually, we hope that the bill will be repealed and replaced with other solutions to the problems that we all agree exist.” Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair John Thune (R-SD) told Fox News that “the bill that the president is now signing into law puts a lot of the changes into effect but we will start a different campaign on that point, to try and repeal that and replace it with legislation that makes more sense . . . .” On MSNBC, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), explained, “Well, I think what we’re saying is repeal and replace. We’re not just saying repeal. Let’s replace it with something that actually works better.” And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Sean Hannity’s radio show, “Let’s set as our goal total repeal and replace it with the right policies.”

And while Republicans were renewing the messaging war against a $2.5 trillion takeover of 1/6^th of the U.S. economy that raises taxes, cuts Medicare, doesn’t control costs, and doesn’t lower insurance premiums, Republican senators continued the fight on the Senate floor. GOP senators are offering amendments to the reconciliation bill that will force Democrats to choose between the desires of Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to keep the bill free of any changes and voting against tough amendments that point out some of the many flaws in the bill. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has already offered an amendment to strip the sweetheart deals for many states from the bill, and Sen. Gregg has offered one to prevent Medicare savings from being spent on a new entitlement program, and instead used to make Medicare solvent. And those aren’t the only tough votes Democrats are facing. The Washington Examiner points to particularly interesting ones from Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

Republicans will continue to fight this monstrous partisan legislation that was jammed through Congress by Democrats over the objections of the overwhelming majority of Americans. As Sen. McConnell said yesterday, “Now [the president will] travel the country talking the bill up to a skeptical public. Clearly, Democrats in Washington still don’t get it. Americans already know what’s in this bill. That’s precisely why they don’t like it. Most Americans out there aren’t celebrating today. They’re dumbfounded by the fact that Congress just passed this 2,685-page monstrosity against their wishes, on the backs of their children and grandchildren, who they know will have to pick up the tab. . . . So Democrats here in Washington can celebrate all they want. But that celebration is going to be short-lived. The American people aren’t fooled.”

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Tags: government healthcare, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C., polls, Democrats, socialized health care, military
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