Promise Kept

Speaker Boehner said it would be passed and even though it was delayed a week as a result of the shooting in Tucson, it passed! The House of Representatives has repealed ObamaCare with a bipartisan vote of 245-189! (The other side likes to talk about bipartisanship, but the only bipartisanship we've seen with this bill comes in the form of those against it) Republicans had a net gain of 63 this fall and ran on repeal. Their constituents are watching and this was a promise that had to be kept. They did that, so hats off to the Republicans and the Democrats who were brave enough to go against their party and support the will of the American voter.

The repeal will likely not be brought up in the Democrat-controlled Senate and if it does, President Obama will likely veto it. Democrats claim this is a waste of time, but Republicans should refuse to accept their fait accompli. Bring it up again in three months and vote on repeal, making the president stand by it! Do it again in another three months, making the president stand by it again! In this process, Republicans can pick off some Democrats who are more worried about protecting their seat, and by 2012, the Republicans will have a major campaign issue. The Campaign Finance Reform Supreme Court ruling, which came nearly 8 years after the law was passed, taught us we should never allow an unconstitutional bill to become law and "wait it out" in the courts while it's law. Rightly so, the House is not waiting on ObamaCare. In the meantime, Republicans should work on a replacement to the bill and that replacement must not stifle job creation, the way ObamaCare does. That replacement must include tort reform, permission to buy insurance across state lines and health savings accounts.

This repeal vote is a good sign that Republicans are standing behind principle and not backing down; exorcising the demons of 2006. Their constituents are watching and the House Republicans in this session of Congress must keep their eyes on the ball!

(NOTE: The above picture is the 2000+ page ObamaCare bill being held by Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen at a rally in late 2009)

UPDATE 1/19: An interesting statistic...of the 39 Democrats who voted against the bill in March of 2010, 30 stood for re-election. Of those 30, only 13 won and of those 13, 10 switched their positions and now support the law for which they voted against...hmmm.