WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans controlling the Senate are abandoning an effort to use their power over the federal purse strings to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
The more pragmatic approach with a huge $164 billion spending measure reflects a hope by top Republicans like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to remove veto bait from must-pass spending bills in hopes of advancing them more easily.
President Barack Obama has already vetoed separate legislation aimed at repealing the law, and he has easily kept language to “defund Obamacare” out of the final versions of annual funding bills.
Top bill sponsor Sen. Roy Blunt is instead focusing on boosting medical research, Pell Grants for low-income college students, and additional money to treat opioid or heroin addicts.
The measure sailed through a Senate Appropriations panel Tuesday morning.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
It only took them six years to recognize one small slice of reality.
naw they haven’t realized anything there just waiting for that small slice of delusion of drumpf being elected president for them to do some real damage to this country
Give it another 20 years and the ACA will be as untouchable as Social Security. The GOP fights tooth and nail against actually providing services to the American public because they know once people get used to not dying in the streets, it’ll be hard to put this genie back in the bottle.
Fingers crossed.
The brain can only handle so much cognitive dissonance.
They’re so busy supporting but not endorsing Trump while he spews vile racist statements, though the Democrats are worse…that this slipped through.