Senate Rejects Full Health Reform Repeal

The United States Senate has rejected by a procedural vote, a full repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) previously passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 47-51. 

Senator McConnell (R-KY) presented the full PPACA repeal passed by the House as an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration bill.  A Budget Act point of order was raised to the amendment.  This point of order was subject to a three-fifths (60 vote) majority to waive.

While an actual up or down vote on the full repeal legislation did not occur, this procedural vote on the Budget Act point of order was considered as a surrogate vote on the full repeal. 

With the rejection of the full repeal passed by the House, the focus now shifts to modifying specific pieces of PPACA. In his State of the Union speech, President Obama said, “If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you.”  President Obama went on to express a desire to, “instead of re-fighting the battles of the last two years, let’s fix what needs fixing and move forward.”