WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta (PA-11) was among the majority of Congressional members today to cast his vote in favor of beginning the process of dismantling the Affordable Care Act.
The Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Resolution, which passed 227-198, was the first procedural step necessary to affect the repeal and replacement of the act known as Obamacare. The bill has already passed the Senate.
“I support the resolution because it represents the first procedural step toward repealing and replacing Obamacare,” Barletta said. “The monstrosity of a health care law never lived up to its promises: people were thrown off their preferred plans; they lost access to their favorite doctors; and their premiums and deductibles skyrocketed. Obamacare was a mess created without a single Republican vote in the first place and in no way represented a consensus approach to fixing our health care system. There can be no mistake: Obamacare was on the ballot in November, and the voters said they wanted a change.”
The vote allows Republicans on Capitol Hill to use a process known as “budget reconciliation” to roll back major parts of the health care law. Top Republican leaders are also saying they plan to move to replace Obamacare along the same track, but they are still struggling to come up with the details on how it will work.
“I will be watching closely as this process continues, because as we move toward a full repeal of Obamacare, we must have replacement plans ready to go without delay in between. This cannot be a rerun of the infamous ‘we have to pass the bill to see what’s in it’ fiasco. We must have a functional replacement so that no one falls through the cracks,” Barletta said.
