The Republican-controlled U.S. House voted again Wednesday to repeal President Obama’s health care law.
It marked the 31st time the House has tried to eliminate all or parts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act since a GOP majority was seated in 2011.
The Democratic Senate has rebuffed those attempts, and the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act in a ruling issued June 28.
Reps. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd; Dan Burton, R-5th; and Mike Pence, R-6th – the GOP candidate for governor of Indiana – supported the repeal in a 244-185 party-line vote Wednesday.
“This is the largest tax increase in American history and, if Congress doesn’t act, the health care law will hurt families and small businesses during the weakest recovery since the Great Depression,” Stutzman said in a prepared statement.
Indiana Democrats have cited non-partisan research they say shows the 21 health care taxes will amount to 0.49 percent of the gross domestic product, less than four tax increases approved by Congress since 1968.
Stutzman said the law, which will require all Americans to obtain medical insurance, “puts unelected bureaucrats, like the Independent Payment Advisory Board, between patients and their doctors. Americans deserve choices, not top-down controls.”
Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-2nd, the Democratic candidate for a Senate seat from Indiana, voted against the repeal.
“The health care law includes good provisions that are already helping Hoosiers,” Donnelly said in a prepared statement. “Seniors are paying less for prescription drugs and children with pre-existing conditions like diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis now have health coverage for the first time. Repealing the health care law would undo these benefits and negatively impact millions of lives across the country.”
His vote drew criticism from GOP Senate candidate and state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who said Donnelly “sided with the president and against Hoosiers and Indiana business.”
Donnelly did say he remains opposed to the law’s 2.3 percent tax on medical device sales.
Stutzman said the tax threatens 2,000 jobs in Indiana, where more than 21,000 people work for companies that manufacture medical devices.
Proponents of the health care law contend it will create millions of potential new customers for medical devices.
Repealing the Affordable Care Act “is an opportunity to save our economy,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said during floor debate.
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the law, which was enacted in 2010, is “about the good health of America as well as good health care for America.”
Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., offered a motion to table the repeal and have lawmakers forfeit their federal health insurance if they voted to kill the Affordable Care Act.
The motion failed in a 248-180 party-line vote.
