A freshman House Republican today sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) asking him to allow a vote on the ObamaCare repeal passed by the lower chamber this afternoon.
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) got signatures of more than 100 of her House colleagues in urging Reid to “let the bill have a full vote in the Senate.”
“Failing to allow a vote on this bill in the full Senate is a failure to understand the expectations the American people have placed on their elected officials,” the letter states.
“Here in the House, we have sent over 30 pieces of job-creating, pro growth legislation to the Senate. If Senator Reid is confident in his party’s majority in the Senate, and proud of the historic increase in taxes brought on by Obamacare, then there is no reason to deny each Senator their right to make their position known,” Ellmers said.
“Great leaders rise in support of what they believe in because they are emboldened by the courage to defend their principles,” she added in announcing the Reid request. “The failure to do so only diminishes the worthiness of their cause.”
Reid today focused on President Obama’s call to renew some of the Bush-era tax cuts and hasn’t mentioned the ObamaCare repeal yet since its passage.
Like I mentioned in a separate blog, putting the repeal to a vote in the House when it is doomed to certain failure in the Senate is bad politics. All it does is give a handful of Blue Dog Democrats political cover for their upcoming reelections. A Senate vote would be just as politically disasterous, since Obama would just veto it.
What is Ellmers smoking?
What a stupid statement. Any activity by congress is meaningful to those who elect these fools to office. Who cares if obama vetoes the results? obama writes and implements his own laws anyway if he doesn’t like what congress does. Typical commie thug. At least the public will get a clear picture of where the problems really are.
I’ve expressed similar views.
I think this vote just gave some democrats a fig leaf to cover their behavior with as they go into what, for them as democrats, is apparently going to be a very harsh election cycle. Some of them can now claim to have voted against Obamacare as a result of this vote.
Having said that, since they had the vote anyway, kudos to Elmers for pushing it now to the next logical level.
If they are intent on doing this vote in the House of Representatives, then they might as well go full bore and start shoving the Senate to likewise address the legislation. It passed the House, so it is the Senate’s responsibility to address the legislation now.
If they put it up for a vote, then there remains the opportunity for democrat senators in tight races to vote against it as a way of trying to save their senate seats. If it passes, they know Obammer will veto it when it hits his desk so they get to have it both ways.
If they refuse to put it up for a vote, then at this point I would perceive that as a sign of weakness on their part as they are afraid of the results.
If they are afraid of the results of a senate vote, then they are either afraid the democrat senators who vote in favor of it will get pummeled in November whether it passes or not, or they are afraid the repeal legislation will actually pass the senate and plop a steaming pile on Obummers desk that will resurrect anew all of the drama of the 2010 election cycle in this election year. If that is the case, the massive defeats the democrats suffered in that year as a result of that legislation as he vetoes the repeal legislation by be repeated in the 2012 election cycle.
I’m thinking of this legislative effort as a kind of going big or going home thing.
By the way, Elmers represents my district and I voted for her and against her democrat predecessor specifically because of Obamacare back in 2010. She is married to a doctor with his own practice and I believe was a registered nurse prior to being elected to Congress, so it makes sense she is front and center on this issue and is pushing it so hard.
Unlike so many other congress critters that passed a 2,700 page bill on 1/5 of the US economy, she actually has an idea of exactly what is going on in the healthcare industry and what she is talking about.
Oh, and FORMER NC Representative Etheridge, whom Elmers beat for the House seat she currently holds, recently lost a primary bid to run as the democrat candidate for our state governor.
Not sure if this was due residual ill will over his voting in favor of Obamacare, or if it was due to that video of him looking drunk as he confronted a wannabe reporter on the public sidewalk, or simply what I perceive to be his arrogance.
No matter…he lost.
Elmers is one of those gifts that keeps on giving – but in a positive way!
For what it is worth, I was a democrat for 28 years and voted against him in the democrat primary this year because of the Obamacare vote – and I changed my voter registration to republican as of July 2 of this year as I no longer feel I have anything in common with that political party.
My suspicion is that a lot of democrats registered that way years if not decades ago and no longer have a connection to the party – but are not highly motivated enough yet to take a trip down to the county seat and change their voter registration like I did.
Doesn’t mean they won’t vote in November though.
Then again, when I asked how many were changing their party registration, the clerk who handled my paperwork pointed at a stack of single page forms that was approximately a foot high on her desk that were nothing but changes in voter registration!
This November is going to be very interesting…..
Actually, I think it’s good for the House to keep passing bills repealing it. The sad thing is that the media refuses to report on it.
What is Harry Reid so afraid of that he refuses to allow a vote on this bill? If obamacare is so great, the Senate Dims should be PROUD to stand up and say so. He won’t bring it to a vote because then the Dims have to defend this monstrosity to the American people, instead of running away from it and pretending they had nothing to do with it.
All federal spending legislation originates in the House. If the House GOP wants to stop ObamaCare all they have to do is cut off the funding.
Oh, yes—right. “The power of the purse.” Well, Congress has slapped Obama with its purse several times, to no avail. No budget passed during the entire time Obama has been in office—and he just takes that as a license to spend anyway.
With that reality—with Obama spending trillions that are wholly unauthorized by a budget, and Congress and its slappy little purse be damned—just how do you propose the House “cut off funding?”
Very well-worded by Rep. Ellmers. I’m proud to be on the same team as her.
It would be nice if Reid showed gusto and matched Ellmers’ courage and clarity. It’s out of the question, however. Those are not the Democrats’ strengths. The Democrats’ hidden potential for clarity, strength, and the desire to think ahead a few steps is rarely revealed or exercised in service to our country. It would be doubtful their off-work lives are any less decrepit.