By Bruce Carroll
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives have passed legislation to strip funding from President Barack Obama’s signature health care law but which would still fund the federal government through Dec. 15.
The House voted 230-189 in favor to defund “Obamacare” in order to avert a government shutdown. This sets up a confrontation with the Democratic-controlled Senate where the defund measure is expected to be stripped out of the government funding legislation.
The overall vote was mostly along party lines. However, most all of the North Carolina Congressional Delegation voted in favor of the legislation, including Democrat Congressman Mike McIntyre (D-07). McIntyre has faced tough election fights over the past two cycles.
Freshman Republican Congressman Mark Meadows (R-11) praised today’s vote in a press release.
“Today my colleagues and I passed the continuing resolution that the American people have been asking for,” Meadows said. “I am proud that the House voted to defund Obamacare while keeping the government open at fiscally responsible spending levels. By including an amended version of the Full Faith and Credit Act, this legislation also takes the threat of default off the table and protects our nation’s credit rating.
“My constituents have told me how Obamacare is already hurting them and their families. Many have lost the health care coverage they were promised they could keep, suffered rising premiums, and found their hours at work reduced. As their Representative, as well as a husband, father and businessman, this fight is personal to me. The resolution passed today shields hardworking Americans from the impacts of President Obama’s destructive health care law.
“Now that the House has put forth this solution, the Senate must act. It is up to President Obama and Senator Harry Reid to join us in standing with the American people and avoiding a government shutdown.”
The pressure is now on North Carolina’s U.S. Senators Richard Burr (R) and Kay Hagan (D). Burr riled conservatives recently by insulting the effort to defund Obamacare.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) told The Huffington Post that he still thinks demanding that President Barack Obama’s health care law be defunded in order to avoid a government shutdown is a “dumb idea,” as he deemed it last July.
“I said it was the dumbest idea I’d ever heard of,” Burr said. “I still think it’s a dumb idea, because you can’t defund Obamacare.”
Senator Hagan, considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the 2014 election, recently doubled-down in her support of the widely unpopular health care law.
Residents of North Carolina now have their chance to express their opinions about defunding Obamacare directly to Senators Burr and Hagan.
