The House of Representatives took its first step today in repealing the abortion-funding ObamaCare bill that pro-life groups strongly oppose.
On a 236-181 vote, Republicans approved the rules for debate for the legislation they will vote on next week to repeal the government takeover of health care.
Four Democrats (Reps. Dan Boren of Oklahoma, Mike McIntyre and Larry Kissell of North Carolina and Mike Ross of Arkansas) joined Republicans in supporting the rule while two Republicans voted present and 15 lawmakers of both parties did not vote.
The vote also paves the way for axing the abortion funding from ObamaCare.
The rule also provides for consideration of H. Res. 9, which instructs relevant House Committees to replace Obamacare with legislation that achieves certain goals including to “prohibit taxpayer funding for abortions and provide conscience protections for health care providers.”
Responding to the vote, House Speaker John Boehner said Republicans are keeping their Pledge to America and taking what he called the “first steps to repeal the job killing health care law that was passed last year over the objections of the American people.”
“With 10 percent unemployment and massive debt, the American people want us to focus on cutting spending and growing our economy, and that is what repealing the health care law is all about. I hope the House will act next week to repeal the job killing health care law so we can get started on replacing it with commonsense reforms that will reduce the cost of health insurance in America,” he said.
Pro-life groups like National Right to Life and Susan B. Anthony List have already endorsedthe repeal effort because of the abortion fnding and rationing in ObamaCare.
Congressman Steve Scalise of Louisiana was one of the lawmakers to support the rules for debate and he said repealing the measure is important for the nation.
“This new era is dedicated to the American people who clearly made their voices heard last November,” he said. “I look forward to repealing the government takeover of health care and then replacing it with real reform which actually addresses the problems.”
Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana, who is mentioned as a potential presidential candidate against pro-abortion President Barack Obama, also weighed in on the rules vote.
“While there was much pomp and ceremony this week welcoming all the new members to the House of Representatives, this week belonged to the American people. The American people sent a deafening message on November the 2nd,” he said. ““And if House Republicans got the message, we won’t just vote once to repeal ObamaCare, we’ll vote to repeal ObamaCare again and again until we consign their government takeover of health care to the ash heap of history where it belongs.”
Rep. Steve King of Iowa and Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota, two pro-life stars, are sponsors of the repeal legislation and they talked about the repeal bill.
“We are introducing this bill to renew the commitments that we made to our constituents and to the American people that we would work to repeal ObamaCare until the day that the unconstitutional law is scrubbed from our books,” King said.
“While we both expect to celebrate the passage of an ObamaCarerepeal bill in the House of Representatives next week, we understand that the effort to repeal the bill does not end with that vote. In fact, it is possible that the effort to fully repeal ObamaCare will not be successful until America has a President who is willing to sign a repeal bill into law,” King added.
The vote comes after a new poll shows a plurality of adults want the measure repealed. A survey of registered or likely voters would likely find higher figures than the 46-40 percent who favor repeal.
