Republicans in the House of Representatives Pass Repeal of Health Care Reform, Offer No Replacement

Last night the GOP bill to repeal Health Care Reform passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 245 to 189. You can see here how the representatives in your area voted. All 242 Republicans in the house voted Yes on the bill and were joined by 3 conservative Democrats. This fell short of the 15 Democratic votes Republican lawmakers were hoping to secure. 10 Democratic Representatives who voted against passage of the health care law in March of last year voted against repealing it yesterday.

Although repeal becoming law seems unlikely (the bill would still need to be passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama), the Republican Party is using all the tools at its disposal to undermine the new law. A couple of days ago we linked to a Politico story outlining congressional Republicans plan to erode public confidence in the law . GOP lawmakers outlined strategies to haul administration officials before their panels, call for votes on bills dismantling pieces of the law, and choke off funding at every turn. Meanwhile Attorneys General in 6 states have joined a lawsuit filed in Florida to overturn the health care law as unconstitutional.

But whats missing is the replace part of the repeal and replace mantra. The Affordable Care Act covers 30 million uninsured Americans, lowers the deficit by $143 billion over 10 years, and makes coverage more affordable and dependable for working class Americans through subsidizes and regulations on insurance companies. Republican lawmakers have made clear their opposition to the law, but they havent proposed any viable alternative. Ezra Klein sums it up well in the Washington Post: "Opposition is easy, governing is hard."

-- New York Times / The Hill / Politico / NPR / CBO / Washington Post