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Boehner Confirms That Obamacare Vote Is Just For Show

Doug Mataconis
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House Speaker John Boehner seemed to confirm today that the upcoming House vote to yet again repeal the Affordable Care Act isn’t really substantive:

House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that next week’s vote to repeal the health reform law is being held to provide new lawmakers a chance to vote on it.

“We’ve got 70 new members who have not had an opportunity to vote on the president’s health care law,” Boehner said. “Frankly they’ve been asking for an opportunity to vote on it.”

When asked if he wants to hold yet another vote on the law — after more than 30 have been held since the law passed — Boehner said, “Obamacare is going to drive up the cost of health care, it is going to drive up the cost of health insurance and make it harder for small businesses to hire workers. … I believe that at the core of who I am. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we don’t wreck the best health care delivery system the world has ever known.”

Well, at least it’s not like they’re wasting legislative time on a completely pointless task. Oh, wait.

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16 responses to “Boehner Confirms That Obamacare Vote Is Just For Show”

  1. mantis Avatar
    mantis

    “We’ve got 70 new members who have not had an opportunity to vote on the president’s health care law,” Boehner said. “Frankly they’ve been asking for an opportunity to vote on it.”

    There are a lot of laws the new members haven’t “had an opportunity to vote on.” Why doesn’t Orange Julius schedule a vote to repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1964? I’ll bet none of the current congress had a chance to vote on that one. How about the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002? Hell, let’s bring back all the laws that were passed by previous congresses to see how the current one would vote! Why not? It’s not like these people are interested in governing anyway.

  2. C. Clavin Avatar
    C. Clavin

    Just for show…as is the Benghazi rigamarole. 9 seperate Congressional investigations into some talking points on Sunday Morning TV. Think about that for a moment.
    All the Republicans are interested in doing is playing silly political games.
    They have no ideas to offer the Country.
    They have no interest in governing…if they in fact have the ability to govern.
    It’s really pathetic what these idiots have done to a once-relevant political party.
    But what really gets me is that these fools get paid well over $100K apiece to accomplish absolutely zero.

  3. John Thacker Avatar
    John Thacker

    Personally, mantis, I think that there is a good case to revisit and either amend, reauthorize, or repeal the AUMF due to the changes in Congress since then.

    The Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill passed the House in 1922, 1923, and 1924, but was prevented from coming to a vote in Senate each time. By 1924, it was clear that it was not going to come to a vote in the Senate, but the House chose to “wast[e] legislative time on a completely pointless task.” Mistake?

    There are plenty of other examples in Congressional history of bills repeatedly passing the House to die in the Senate. Given that backlash from PPACA is responsible for quite a lot of those Republican freshmen and sophomores being in office, and that the bill itself remains unpopular with less than majority support, I have a hard time viewing this as an outrage.

  4. mantis Avatar
    mantis

    @John Thacker:

    There are plenty of other examples in Congressional history of bills repeatedly passing the House to die in the Senate. Given that backlash from PPACA is responsible for quite a lot of those Republican freshmen and sophomores being in office, and that the bill itself remains unpopular with less than majority support, I have a hard time viewing this as an outrage.

    You ignore the fact that there is no possible way they will get a repeal through the Senate or the president. You ignore the fact that the previous House voted to repeal the law 33 times, and those repeals went nowhere. You ignore the fact the speaker himself admits this vote has nothing at all to do with governance and everything to do with campaigning.

    I’m not against reconsidering laws, amending laws, or repealing laws on principle. This is an outrage because it is nothing but theater from a bunch of psychopaths who have no interest in governance when this country faces real problems they should be addressing. Get it?

  5. Ben Avatar
    Ben

    @John Thacker:

    Given that backlash from PPACA is responsible for quite a lot of those Republican freshmen and sophomores being in office, and that the bill itself remains unpopular with less than majority support, I have a hard time viewing this as an outrage.

    This is an extremely misleading statement. Most people have no idea what the PPACA actually does. Most of the things people THINK they know about the PPACA is due inflammatory and misleading propaganda that the Republicans put out there referring to death panels and socialized medicine. So you’re right that a lot of the Republican freshman reps are there because of the PPACA, in an indirect way.

    When the specific things that Obamacare does are explained to people, a large majority support every single piece other than the mandate, which is funny because the mandate is the only way to pay for all the good stuff everyone likes. Which is a bit like saying that you liked every part of a meal, except for the part where you had to pay the bill.

  6. Caj Avatar
    Caj

    Of course it’s for show. It also shows what a bunch of time wasting idiots they are as well. More pressing things to be done for the country but these incompetent bunch of jerks waste time on crap like this!! John Boehner is the biggest waste of space I’ve ever seen. Speaker! Speaker of what? He’s terrified of the tea party crazies and has the guts of a church mouse, which boils down to having no guts at all. Roll on when all those fools are voted out once and for all. Never have we had such a disfuctional Congress that couldn’t care less about the country. It’s all about President Obama and trying anything and everything to stall whatever he wants done.
    The Republican Party are absolutely disgusting. I’d be embarrassed to say I was a member of that shameless group!

  7. Rob in CT Avatar
    Rob in CT

    I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a congressional kid!

    [apologies to ToysRUs]

  8. anjin-san Avatar
    anjin-san

    Hmm. In the run up to last year’s election, the GOP was telling us America is a nation in crisis, a nation on the brink.

    What happened to the crisis, the terrible crossroads we were at? It there really time for show votes given the grave nature of the hour?

  9. Liberal Capitalist Avatar
    Liberal Capitalist

    Hey, this is a land of equality… everyone needs their chance to get an “I hate Obummer” merit badge.

    How else can they tell their teabagger buddies and peapickin pals that they hate that blah person as well !

    South side. Represent!

  10. grumpy realist Avatar
    grumpy realist

    Well, to be cynical, is this really any worse than the plethora of silly legislation about “National Flower Day” or so-and-so State’s Bird being the Cardinal?

  11. edmondo Avatar
    edmondo

    @Ben:

    Which is a bit like saying that you liked every part of a meal, except for the part where you had to pay the bill.

    Yeah, especially when no one told them the price of the meal to begin with. It will be sweet to watch the Democrats lose the Senate in 2014 because of the backlash against the implementation of Obamacare.

  12. mantis Avatar
    mantis

    @edmondo:

    Answer the question, edmondo.

  13. David M Avatar
    David M

    @edmondo:

    We get that you don’t like the fantasy version of Obamacare that exists only in your mind. Sadly, that’s more understandable than your apparent support for both better health care reform and the GOP.

  14. legion Avatar
    legion

    @edmondo:

    It will be sweet to watch the Democrats lose the Senate in

    You and SmoothJazz and a bunch of other drips say that _every_ _single_ _year_. You are always wrong about everything. All the time.

  15. al-Ameda Avatar
    al-Ameda

    @John Thacker:

    There are plenty of other examples in Congressional history of bills repeatedly passing the House to die in the Senate. Given that backlash from PPACA is responsible for quite a lot of those Republican freshmen and sophomores being in office, and that the bill itself remains unpopular with less than majority support, I have a hard time viewing this as an outrage.

    Why not give them (those Republican freshmen) the chance to vote on the 1964 Civil Rights Act? I’m sure many of those guys would love to repeal it too? Or maybe the legislation that established Social Security, Medicare too? What a great opportunity show how principled they are.

  16. Davebo Avatar
    Davebo

    @John Thacker:

    the bill itself remains unpopular with less than majority support,

    Which is amazing considering 42% of Americans don’t even know it’s a law

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