House GOP votes to repeal Obamacare, again
The House of Representatives on Thursday voted on a repeal of the Affordable Care Act for the 37th time -- and immediately following the vote, both Democrats and Republicans were campaigning on the issue.
Two Democrats -- moderate Reps. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., and James Matheson, D-Utah -- joined 227 Republicans in voting for the repeal bill.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, explained to reporters that while some have characterized the House's repeated votes to repeal the law as a waste of time, Republicans have no intention of letting up.
- Obama: "110 percent committed" to Obamacare implementation
- GOP slams Obamacare rollout, works to repeal law
"While our goal is to repeal all of Obamacare, I would remind you that the president has signed into law seven different bills that repealed or defunded parts of that law," he said. "Is it enough? No. A full repeal is needed to keep this law from doing more damage to our economy and raising health care costs. But some progress has been made, and Republicans will continue to work to scrap the law in its entirety."
Democrats, of course, have lambasted the continued repeal efforts. "Albert Einstein defined insanity as follows: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday on the Senate floor. "If his definition is true -- and I won't argue with Einstein -- then House Republicans have truly lost their minds."
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the campaign arm of the House Democratic caucus, is convinced the voters are fed up with the GOP's continued repeal efforts. The DCCC on Wednesday started making telephone calls in the congressional districts of 10 vulnerable House Republicans, urging voters to ask their representatives to oppose the repeal bill.
"Americans are crystal clear - they want Congress to solve problems, not spark ideological battles again and again," DCCC chairman Steve Israel said.
Immediately following Thursday's vote, the DCCC stepped up its campaigning, launching online ads attacking vulnerable Republicans for the vote.
At least one Republican, however, saw the vote as a political asset: Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., started running an ad Thursday touting her vote, the Associated Press reported. The ad reportedly shows Bachmann speaking into the camera about the "great news" of the vote.
