Washington Examiner: House panel votes to defund Obamacare

Washington Examiner - Robert King

A House panel advanced a spending bill that effectively rolls back several provisions of Obamacare in the Republicans' latest attempts to challenge the controversial law.

The House Appropriations Committee voted 30-21 along party lines to advance a $153 billion funding bill for several federal agencies such as the Department of Labor and Department of Health and Human Services. The bill now goes before the full House.

The legislation defunds existing Obamacare programs and it stops any new discretionary funding from being used to further implement the law.

It halts funding for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Navigator programs, which dole out grants to nonprofits and other organizations to help consumers understand how to access health coverage. It also prohibits funds for the new Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, which helps implement Obamacare reforms.

Democrats vehemently opposed the funding rollbacks.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said Republicans are fixated on getting rid of Obamacare even though it is "the law of the land."

"Get a life," said DeLauro, the committee's ranking member.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to repeal the provisions.

The bill was a "clear attempt to repeal [the law] through defunding," said Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

However, the amendment was denied through a largely party-line vote.

Republicans noted that there is still a high amount of opposition to the law, even though it has been around for years. The bill ensures that "discretionary dollars aren't used to fund a law we don't support," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., chairman of the subcommittee that drafted the spending bill.

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