WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) — The Speaker of the House signed the first Obamacare repeal bill that will actually reach President Barack Obama’s desk. Even if the president has said he will veto it.
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was flanked by fellow Republicans in a signing ceremony Thursday on Capital Hill. The bill also would de-fund Planned Parenthood for one year. Three Republicans voted against it and one Democrat voted in favor of the bill.
“It has been a long time in getting here, but here we are,” Ryan said in the Rayburn Room near the House chamber.
The bill allows Republican lawmakers to show voters what they would do if the GOP gets back the White House in November. The entire GOP field of presidential candidates supports the repeal of Obamacare.
The vote is also part of what Ryan said would be a year when his party would “go big on ideas” hoping to lay out an agenda by spring that he hopes GOP candidates will run on.
Top house Republicans hope to merge more than 100 healthcare bills into one large bill that would attempt to replace the ACA.
That will be one of the main topics at the Republican retreat in Baltimore next week. A vote to override President Obama’s veto is expected by the end of the month, but currently is about 40 votes short.
