80 House Republicans In Favor of Defunding Obamacare
By Dr. James Palermo // August 27, 2013
FLORIDA GOP HOUSE MEMBERS SPLIT OVER DEFUNDING
Republican Bill Posey, U.S. House of Representative from Florida’s 8th District along with at least seven other Florida Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for “defunding” the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, aka Obamacare) during budget talks in September.
In a letter dated August 21, 2013 to Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, 80 Republican representatives, more than a third of the House, asked Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to resist any spending bills that would accommodate the new health care law, which is nearing a critical stage of signing up millions of Americans for health coverage.
The letter stated that Republicans should “continue to try to repeal Obamacare in its entirety this year, next year, and until we are successful,” and that Obamacare cannot be fully implemented if funds for its implementation are removed from any appropriations bill brought to the House floor.
NINE FLORIDA GOP REPRESENTATIVES NOT CALLING FOR DEFUNDING
A majority of 153 GOP representatives refrained from signing the letter and attempting to limit Boehner’s options. That presumably would allow the speaker to push a bipartisan bill that funds the health law and is supported by a “majority of the majority” of his fellow Republicans, which Boehner says he believes is essential.
Florida Republicans in the House are split over the move to try to defund Obamacare. As of late last week, nine Florida Republican Representatives were still not calling for the defunding.
The defunding move in the House creates a dilemma for Boehner and other GOP leaders who view a resultant government shutdown as politically unwise.
POSEY ADVOCATES DEFUNDING AND PROHIBITING SPECIAL EXEMPTIONS
“The health care law is unworkable, expensive and has hampered job creation from day one,” said Rep. Posey.
“Congress should repeal this law, lift this massive weight off the backs of working Americans and business owners, and put in its place reforms based on individual liberty and personal freedom. Short of a full repeal, I support withholding funds for Obamacare’s implementation and suspending all of its mandates. That has consistently been my position.”
Also commenting on the administration’s new rules that allow members of Congress and their staffs to escape the healthcare exchanges under Obamacare, clearly violating the stipulation in the law that “the only health plans that the federal government may make available” to Congress are the ones that are part of the law’s insurance exchanges, Posey said:
“I oppose any special exemptions from this law, especially for members of Congress, White House employees and those across federal agencies who are charged with writing and enforcing the law. They should all be required to live under the law that has been mandated on the rest of America.”
