Posted 8/5/2012
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s hairsplitting decision to uphold Obamacare, Republicans in Congress have redoubled our efforts to get this monstrosity off the books. If the court won’t do it, we must.
The rationale for such a vote is obvious. When Obamacare first passed, no one knew what its full impact would be. Even Nancy Pelosi famously said we’d have to pass the bill to find out what was in it.
Now that we’ve had some time to study its consequences, Democrats should stand up and be counted. Does it get a passing or a failing grade? That’s all Republicans are calling for. Senate Democrats refuse.
Just this week, Senate Democrats decided to spend an entire day talking about parts of Obamacare that poll well, but they refused to spend 15 minutes being caught on camera voting to uphold the entire law.
It marked the third time since the court’s decision that Senate Democrats have blocked a repeal vote, even as the Republican-led House of Representatives has already passed a bill declaring its support for repeal. As Majority Leader Harry Reid recently put it, Democrats “do what [they] can to protect the President.”
It’s precisely this kind of thinking that impels Republicans to keep fighting for another repeal vote. After all, Senate Democrats should be more concerned about protecting health care than protecting their party.
If Democrats are so supportive of Obamacare’s trillion dollar price tag, its devastating impact on jobs, its assault on religious freedom, its suffocating impact on small businesses, its middle class tax hike, and the higher health care costs that it’s already delivering, then vote against repeal.
If, on the other hand, they think all these things are an argument to start over, join us in voting it down.
This week, we learned Obamacare will also exacerbate a shortage of doctors nationwide. One would think lawmakers would welcome a chance to reevaluate their original votes in light of reports like this.
Sadly, the Democrats who worked so hard to pass Obamacare are now afraid to reaffirm — or repudiate it — with a vote.
They’re simply too afraid to cross the president, and they’re afraid to show the voters who sent them here that they continue to support this terrible law despite everything we’ve learned about it.
All Senate Republicans are asking for is a chance to show the American people how we feel about this law now that we’ve had a chance to look at its effects. What could possibly be wrong with that?
Pass or fail? It’s a vote the American people want. It’s a vote they deserve.
