With the Supreme Court of the United States on Thursday upholding most of the federal health-care law that President Barack Obama signed in 2010, the Florida delegation in Congress is gearing up for a repeal vote scheduled for July and dividing on party lines.
U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., announced after the court decision was released that he would schedule a vote to repeal the health-care law when Congress returns from the Independence Day recess.
During the week of July 9, the House will once again repeal Obamacare, clearing the way for patient-centered reforms that lower costs and increase choice, Cantor announced. We support an approach that offers simpler, more affordable and more accessible health care that allows people to keep the health care that they like."
Republicans in the Florida delegation promised to back the attempt to repeal the health-care law.
Noting that he voted against the bill when it first came to the House floor in November 2009 and backed the measure to repeal it in January 2011, U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, a Republican who represents parts of North Florida and the First Coast, said on Thursday that he fully supported a repeal effort.
Todays decision by the United States Supreme Court is disappointing, Crenshaw said. Obamacare was bad law yesterday, and it is bad law today. Thats why I will vote once again to fully repeal Obamacare when it comes to the House floor in two weeks.
Obamacare has failed to keep the administrations basic promises to the American people, Crenshaw added. They said it would lower your health care premiums, and it didnt. They said if you like your health care plan, you can keep it, but you cant. And they said it would save money, and it hasnt.
While praising the court for providing the American people clarity that Obamacare is nothing more than a massive tax increase on working families, U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., called the ruling disappointing on Thursday but insisted that the fight was not yet over.
It is up to all of us elected as well as the ultimate arbiters of power, the people, to send this president a clear message in November, Ross said. For my part, I remain committed to full repeal, ending the Obamacare tax, and passing patient-centered, doctor-friendly reforms to fix our health care system. I agree with the four dissenting justices, but what is done is done. It is now time for the people to change what the court would not."
Agreeing with his fellow freshman Ross that the health-care law provided a new tax, U.S. Rep. David Rivera, R-Fla., took aim at it and said he would back the repeal effort.
The job-killing health care law places a heavy burden on job creators and American families, Rivera said. The law imposes new taxes on the American people, wildly grows federal spending and impedes hiring --things we can ill-afford as our national debt nears $16 trillion and the unemployment rate has been at 8 percent or more for 40 consecutive months. This irresponsible bill imposes onerous costs and regulations on small businesses, guts benefits for seniors and the disabled and leaves future generations holding the bag.
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It is time to fully repeal the job-killing, tax-hiking health care law and to implement lasting health care reform that gets Washington out of the way and gives Americans control over their medical decisions, Rivera added.
While Republicans in the Florida delegation vowed to repeal the law -- which faces long odds in the Democratic-controlled Senate -- their counterparts on the other side of the aisle celebrated the decision on Thursday.
Insisting that the health-care law benefited her district, freshman Democrat U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson called the decision upholding the Affordable Care Act (ACA)a huge victory that would have lasting consequences.
In passing health reform, President Obama and a Democratic Congress made history for our country and progress for the American people, Wilson insisted. Because of the ACA, affordable health care is now a right for all, not a privilege for the few. Today, the Supreme Court affirmed our progress and protected that right, securing a future of health and economic security for working people and their families, students and seniors.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., also praised the court for upholding most of the law on Thursday.
In the coming days, political strategists and pundits will debate how todays Supreme Court ruling will impact the November elections, when what really matters is the improved financial security that all Americans will enjoy thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Deutch said. Just the beginning phases of this historic laws implementation have yielded tremendous benefits to Floridians and Americans nationwide.
While praising the bill, Deutch unloaded on the Republican leadership in Tallahassee -- namely Gov. Rick Scott -- for attempting to block the implementation of the law.
With the law upheld, it is time we get to work implementing all of its provisions and finally expand coverage to 30 million uninsured Americans and reduce health care costs for all of our businesses, workers, families and seniors, Deutch said. In Florida especially, it is time for Governor Rick Scott to stop pretending the Affordable Care Act does not exist, and finally begin helping Floridians access the many critical benefits provided by this law.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
