WASHINGTON — Rep. John Kline today unveiled the bill by which House Republicans will seek to completely repeal the recently-passed health care law, a bill they plan to vote on next week.
“Republicans are fulfilling our pledge to take up legislation that will repeal and replace the Democrats’ job-killing health care law,” Kline said in a statement. “For more than a year Washington pursued a government takeover of health care despite rising unemployment, unsustainable federal deficits, and overwhelming public opposition. The new Congress will make job creation and fiscal responsibility top priorities, and repealing ObamaCare is an important part of our efforts.”
The bill itself can be seen by clicking on this link.
Minnesota’s delegation is expected to split 4-4 on the repeal vote, with all four Republicans voting for repeal.
The move is unlikely to attract much support from across the aisle, though. Rep. Collin Peterson (who voted against the health care bill last year) will not be voting for its wholesale repeal, with a spokeswoman saying he viewed it as a “political vote” — a statement that has been echoed by other Blue dog Democrats. Minnesota’s other three Democrats voted in favor of the health care law last year.
And a Democratic Senate is even more unlikely to bring the House’s repeal bill to the floor for a vote.
In keeping with their “repeal and replace” pledge, the GOP will also offer a bill directing relevant committees (including Kline’s Education and Labor) to produce replacement legislation. Guidelines for what that subsequent legislation would have to encompass are written into the “replace” bill.
I can imagine an equally symbolic but slightly more efficacious public stunt to the contrary:
May the uninsured & under-insured constituents of Rep Kline’s district feel free to line up and take a turn vomiting on his desk! And as they shuffle on past to return to the cold huddled masses relishing their “freedom” from any curbs on profit-taking health industries, they can turn sneeze wetly on Rep. Bachmann’s.