Yesterday, the House took another show vote on the Affordable Care Act, this time to delay the implementation of the penalty for failure to comply with the individual health insurance mandate.
To be accurate, we should not call such a vote a "repeal" vote. The GOP has, in fact, voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act in the past, but repeal was not the function of this bill. Rather, it was an attempt to delay implementation even more than it's already been delayed by the president. Moreover, it's more of a show vote of opposition to the law than a real policy exercise.
If we call delays repeals, then Obama just repealed the ACA yesterday, too. And, of course, we know that's not the case. He just delayed its implementation---yet again. The law was signed almost four years ago, and I am always amazed by the president's willingness to delay its implementation for perceived political reasons.
Anyway, the House passed the latest attempt 250 to 160.
Only 1 Republican voted against it: Paul Broun (GA-10), who probably voted against it because it was not full repeal.
And who are the 27 Democrats who went along?
Ron Barber (AZ-02)
John Barrow (GA-12)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Tammy Duckworth (IL-08)
Bill Enyart (IL-12)
Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02)
Pete Gallego (TX-23)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Joe Garcia (FL-26)
Ann Kuster (NH-02)
Daniel Lipinski (IL-03)
Dan Maffei (NY-24)
Jim Matheson (UT-04)
Mike McIntyre (NC-07)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Rick Nolan (MN-08)
Bill Owens (NY-23)
Gary Peters (MI-14)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Nick Rahall (WV-03)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Filemon Vela (TX-34)
Most of the names are from purple districts. The one that stands out to me, though, is Tulsi Gabbard. She won her seat 81% to 19%. It's not even competitive.
I am continuously disappointed in the behavior of Democrats on health care. If poll after poll shows that most people want to keep the law but fix/improve it, then Democrats should be championing progressive fixes--a Medicare buy-in, a public option--rather than delaying the law itself. If someone wants to vote against the Affordable Care Act at the polls, that person will vote Republican. Following along with these show votes won't really change that.