Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday introduced a measure aimed at repealing the national health care overhaul as an amendment to the first Senate bill of the new Congress.
McConnell proposed the repeal measure as an amendment to a Federal Aviation Administration funding bill. The move came one day after a federal judge in Florida ruled that Congress had overstepped its authority by mandating insurance for nearly all Americans. A vote could come as early as Wednesday, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide.
The push for a vote on repealing the health care law has picked up broad support among Senate Republicans, although it's unlikely that full repeal would garner the number of votes necessary to pass the Senate. South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint announced on Monday afternoon that his bill calling for the full repeal of the health care overhaul had won the support of all 47 Senate Republicans; earlier Monday, some GOP senators had yet to sign onto the bill.
Senate Democratic leaders promised on Tuesday that any Republican-led repeal effort would be defeated, potentially by Democrats raising a point of order against the measure.
"The Republicans obviously want to do something on health care, and so we want to get this out of their system very quickly," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
In addition to the full repeal amendment, a separate amendment sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) that would repeal the unpopular 1099 provision of the health care law is also on the table this week. Reid said that the Senate would likely move to that measure "very quickly."
As of late last week, a similar measure sponsored by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) had garnered the support of more than 60 senators, including 45 Republicans and 15 Democrats.
Other Republicans in Congress are moving ahead aggressively with their effort to overturn the health-care overhaul. Earlier Tuesday, Republican Senators Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and John Barrasso (Wyo.) introduced legislation that would allow states to opt out of provisions of the national health care law including the employer mandate, individual insurance benefit mandates and Medicaid expansion.
Read more at The Washington Post.
