On Wednesday February 2nd, 2011 the newly elected Senate failed to pass a controversial measure that would have made it possible to eventually repeal president Obama’s health care reform.
Despite the failure (which was predicted by all political experts) the Republicans have vowed to keep on fighting until they have taken down the piece of legislation that is so dear to the Democrats.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell who is determined to accomplish his goal in order to impress the very powerful Tea Party said after learning that his bill had failed by a vote of 47 for while 51 were against:
“This fight isn’t over.We intend to continue the fight to repeal and replace Obamacare with sensible reforms that would lower the cost of American health care, like medical malpractice, like selling insurance across state lines.”
New House Speaker John Boehner who was able to easily repeal Obamacare echoed McConnell’s call to fight in the following statement:
“This debate has just begun.We will keep our word to the American people and continue working to repeal this job-destroying health care law and replace it with common-sense reforms that lower costs and increase access without putting more Americans out of work.”
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who orchestrated the Republican’s bill failure explained that his opponents want to “take away a child’s right to get health insurance and instead give insurance companies the right to use asthma or diabetes as an excuse to take away that care.” The top Democrat added:
“It would kick kids off their parents’ health insurance.It would take away seniors’ rights to a free wellness check.”
The Conservatives may not have been able to annul President Obama’s signature reform this time around but they have already started looking for other ways to kill it.
Earlier this week Senate Republicans, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Barrasso of Wyoming, presented their own bill that would allow the country to opt out of several key requirements.
The GOP is also very hopeful that the Supreme Court will eventually rule the bill as unconstitutional.