Politics & Government

Murrieta Congressman Votes To Defund ObamaCare

Friday's partisan 230-189 vote likely won't be repeated in the Democratic-led Senate, which promises to strip the health care provision from the bill next week.

Congressman Ken Calvert joined his fellow Republicans Friday in voting to defund ObamaCare.

With his vote in favor of a GOP-drafted spending bill that will fund the federal government through Dec. 15, 2013 while defunding ObamaCare, Calvert said in a released statement:

“When I originally voted against ObamaCare legislation in the Spring of 2010, I explained that the bill ‘will kill jobs, further increase government intervention into our lives, and pile trillions of dollars of new government spending and debt on the back of future generations.’ When I ran for re-election in 2010 and again in 2012, I told voters that I strongly opposed ObamaCare and would work to protect them from the negative impacts of the law. My vote today to defund ObamaCare reflects my pledge to voters and my continued belief that the law is harming our economy, reducing the quality of health care Americans receive, and adding to our unsustainable levels of debt. I don’t want to shut down the government. I want to shut down ObamaCare.”

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Calvert represents Murrieta, among other local jurisdictions.

Democrats have called the GOP maneuver a hostage situation.

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House Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland said the Republican jostling is a "blatant act of hostage-taking" fueled by the GOPs' "destructive obsession with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and its unrestrained hostility towards government,” The Associated Press reported.

A stopgap funding measure is needed to keep the government fully running after the Oct. 1 start of the new budget year.

Tea party activists in the Republican party have been rallying the GOP to add a provision to derail ObamaCare. More moderate House Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), had initially expressed disdain for using the Affordable Care Act as a deal point in a bill designed to keep the government functioning. Without a measure in place, delayed pay for federal workers is expected after Oct. 1.

Friday’s partisan 230-189 vote likely won’t be repeated in the Democratic-led Senate, which promises to strip the health care provision from the bill next week.

President Barack Obama has already vowed to veto any measure that attempts to defund his Affordable Care Act.


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