he Senate reconvened at 10 AM and Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) gave his first speech on the Senate floor. Following that speech, the Senate resumed consideration of S. 223, the FAA Reauthorization bill.Votes are scheduled later today on amendments offered to the bill by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). The McConnell amendment is identical to the text of the House-passed bill (H.R. 2) to repeal the Democrats’ health care law.
The Stabenow amendment is almost exactly the amendment that Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) has been championing for over a year, to repeal the onerous 1099 reporting requirements on businesses imposed by the health care law.
In fact, Leader McConnell observed today, “It turns out Senator Johanns did such an outstanding job raising awareness about the 1099 requirement that Democrats took the idea and are now claiming it as their own.”
The Hill reports today, “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will force an up-or-down vote on the repeal of healthcare reform on Wednesday, testing the unity of Democrats who had promised the rollback would never see the light of day in their chamber. The vote in the Senate will come two weeks to the day after the House voted, largely along party lines, to repeal the healthcare law.”
Politico notes, “Senate Republicans promise that the first vote to repeal the health care reform law, which is likely to happen Wednesday but is expected to fail, won’t be the last strike at President Barack Obama’s signature legislation. . . . The vote represents the first chance to force moderate Democrats to make a tough vote to stand by the health care reform law, which has not become more popular since it passed in March. Through this vote and others, Republicans are hoping to build public momentum for repealing the law.”
And Human Events points out, “Both before and after the House passed ObamaCare repeal, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) said that he would never allow a vote on repeal in the Senate. Despite Reid's opposition and mainstream media reports, McConnell said that he would force a vote on the House-passed repeal. McConnell said on Jan. 19: ‘The Democratic leadership in the Senate doesn’t want to vote on this bill. But I assure you, we will.’ Reid conceded yesterday that the repeal vote was inevitable.”
Speaking on the floor this morning, Leader McConnell emphasized, “The case against this bill is more compelling every day. Everything we learn tells us it was a bad idea. That it should be repealed and replaced.”
Indeed, every day there are more stories about how the Democrats’ unpopular health care law hurts job creators. Scott Womack, the president of Womack Restaurants in Terre Haute, Indiana, told the House Ways and Means Committee last week, “Restaurants are unable to raise prices in this economy. We don’t have a way to replace the lost income. Our only alternative is to cut costs. Cutting costs means cutting staff, means reducing hours. It means pushing people into part time status. … To that end, we are asking the Congress to repeal its health care law.” And Mike Sudweeks, who has a MAACO auto shop in Glendale, Arizona, told the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) last month, “We are going to have to drop employees.” And Darcey Gunn, of 5 Star Roofing in Loveland, Colorado lamented, “I have been struggling to keep my doors open the last few years. I have never laid off any employees. The last thing I need is more expenses. This is the wrong time to hurt small business owners. I will have to pull the plug.”
Meanwhile, the health law continues to have other negative consequences on ordinary Americans. According to the Denver Business Journal, “A spokeswoman for Aetna confirmed Monday that the insurer will no longer sell new individual-market health insurance policies in Colorado and will terminate current policies held by state residents no later than July 31, 2012.
The change represents Aetna’s third major recent pull-back on health-insurance offerings in Colorado. The Hartford, Conn.-based company announced in the second half of 2010 that it will also stop selling new small-group and child-only individual-market policies.” The Business Journal points out, “Insurers have complained that federal health care reform has made offering their product more expensive. . . . Aetna was the sixth largest insurer of individual health-care customers in Colorado, reporting 22,400 of them at the end of 2009, which is the most recent statistic available from the Colorado Division of Insurance. That represented 4.29 percent of the individual health care market in the state.”
Leader McConnell said this morning, “Later today, as I noted yesterday, the Senate will have a rare opportunity. For those who’ve supported the health spending bill in the past, it’s an opportunity to revisit your first vote. To listen to those who have desperately been trying to get your attention. To say, yes, maybe my vote for this bill was a mistake, and that we can do better. To listen to the small business owners who’ve been contacting our offices every day and telling us all the ways this bill keeps them from creating the jobs we need. To show that you’ve actually noticed that most Americans don’t want this bill. To show that you’re aware more people want it repealed than don’t. To show that you’ve noticed the town halls in your states. To show that you’ve noticed the opposition to this bill continues to grow. To show that you’ve noticed the federal court rulings that said this bill is unconstitutional at its core. It’s not every day that you can get a second chance on a big decision after you know all the facts. This is that second chance.” Hopefully, Democrats will take advantage of their opportunity and vote with Republicans to take the first step to repeal and replace this seriously flawed, unpopular law.
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