U.S. Senate rejects repeal of healthcare law
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U.S. Senate on Wednesday rejected a bill to repeal the Obama administration's healthcare reform law, but voted to strike down a provision unpopular with the public.
In a procedural vote on the repeal bill, the Senate voted 47-51 completely along the party line. No Democrats in attendance voted in favor of the measure and no Republicans rejected it.
U.S. House of Representatives, which is currently controlled by Republicans, passed healthcare repeal last month in a vote of 245-189, with several Democrats joining Republicans for the repeal.
Senate Democratic leadership has been vowing to deny Republicans a chance to take a floor vote on the repeal bill, but Republican leadership circumvented it by bringing the bill as an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration's reauthorization bill and successfully forced a vote which is believed to be tough for some moderate Democrats.
While failing to repeal the entire law, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to get rid of a provision which requires businesses to report annual purchases of goods or services of more than 600 dollars to each vendor.
The Senate voted 81-17 on the tax reporting requirement, which President Barack Obama identified in his State of the Union address as one of the provisions he would like to strike down.
The Senate vote came just two days after a federal judge in Florida ruled the law unconstitutional, dealing a second legal blow to Obama's signature legislative achievement after a Virginian judge stroke down a core provision of the law.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled on Monday the "individual mandate," which requires almost every American to buy health insurance or face a penalty, exceeds the boundaries the Constitution gives the Congress to regulate interstate activities. And given that the provision is instrumental to the law, the entire package should be declared void, said the judge.
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