Obamacare. It’s the largest expansion of government-run health care in the history of the nation. It’s the largest expansion of funding for the abortion industry since Roe . Wade. It’s a health care scheme that has rationed health care by driving up costs for many Americans or causing them to lose their health insurance entirely.
The pro-life movement has been unanimous in its opposition to Obamacare because of these pro-life concerns — making it so there is a tangible reason for pro-life voters to support a pro-life takeover of the U.S. Senate.
Not only would pro-life bills that would ban late-term abortions or stop taxapyer funding of abortions finally get a vote if the Senate is returned to Republicans hands, but the top Republican in the Senate says voters can expect action against Obamacare if the gavel is taken away from Harry Reid.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who is pro-life and the Senate Minority Leader, discussed those plans, as the Washington Examiner reports:
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., says he would be willing to repeal Obamacare with a simple majority if he takes over as majority leader in January, his spokesman told the Washington Examiner on Thursday.
The announcement comes just days before Tuesday’s midterm congressional election, in which Republicans have a strong chance of seizing the upper chamber from the Democrats and putting the Kentucky senator in charge.
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“Leader McConnell is and has always been committed to the full repeal of Obamacare, and he’ll continue to lead efforts to repeal and replace it with patient-centered reforms that enable greater choice at lower costs. He knows it won’t be easy, but he also believes that if Republicans are fortunate enough to take back the majority we’ll owe it to the American people to try through votes on full repeal, the bill’s most onerous provisions, and reconciliation,” McConnell spokesman Brian McGuire wrote in an emailed statement.
Though legislation typically requires 60 votes in the Senate to stave off a filibuster by the minority, the rules allow for budget-related items to be passed through a reconciliation process that requires a simple 51-vote majority.
Democrats used the procedure to help get Obamacare across the congressional finish line in 2010 after passing the underlying bill with 60 votes in 2009. It remains an open question as to how much of the law could be repealed through the complicated reconciliation process. For instance, the law’s spending provisions could probably be repealed this way, but regulations that aren’t directly related to the budget likely couldn’t be.
If Republicans do win enough votes next week to take over the Senate, conservative voters will undoubtedly push them to do as much as possible to de-fund, repeal and roll back Obamacare. However, with President Barack Obama firmly ensconsed in the White House for two more years, those repeal options will be narrow until a president is elected who is willing to turn back the pro-abortion health care program.
