WILL OBAMACARE SURVIVE?
by Sharon Rondeau
(Sep. 27, 2013) — A vote on whether or not to invoke “cloture,” or the close of debate, is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. today in the U.S. Senate on an appropriations bill which would keep government departments functioning without interruption if passed before the October 1 deadline.
The appropriations bill is called a “Continuing Resolution” and was approved by the House on September 20. Sen. Majority Leader has condemned the bill and said that Obamacare must be funded.
HotAir quotes Mike Flynn of Breitbart, who has reported that as many as 30 Republican senators may vote not to close debate on the Continuing Resolution. Live coverage of the session will be provided by C-Span.
As mentioned by radio show host Erik Rush on Friday and others, Obamacare will collect personal information of applicants and make it available to a “data hub.” According to Betsy McCaughey, former Lt. Governor of New York, doctors will ask personal questions of their patients for which they are being paid by HHS.
In the minutes before the Senate session begins, Twitter is experiencing high volume at hashtags #DefundObamacare and #MakeDCListen.
Since speaking on the Senate floor from Tuesday overnight to Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz has urged the GOP to unify behind a vote for non-cloture.
In Saul Alinsky style, Cruz was excoriated, ridiculed and insulted for standing on his principles against Obamacare, which he said many of his constituents have told him has cut their work hours or hurt their businesses. Young people enrolling in the program may be penalized with high premiums for very few services used. Some sharp criticism came from members of his own party, including Rep. Peter King and Sen. John McCain.
King called Cruz “a fraud.”
While a majority of Republicans may not balk at the leadership of their party by voting “no” on cloture, those who do will signify their disagreement with the “establishment.”
Votes in favor of cloture are considered to be votes “for Obamacare.” If Reid garners 51 votes in favor of cloture, he is expected to remove the provision of the House bill which defunds Obamacare and send the proposal back to the House for its approval.
If appropriations are not agreed upon by midnight on September 30, a partial government shutdown would begin.
Sen. Mike Lee, who asked questions and spoke for part of the Cruz’s 21 hours on the floor, tweeted:
Update: Twitter users are reporting the early results of the Senate vote:
A reported 21 Senators voted “no” on cloture, with 79 voting “yes.” Some of those reported to have voted “no” are Mike Crapo, Charles Grassley, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and Jeff Sessions.
A complete list is here.
Update, 1:18 p.m. EDT: Mark Knoller of CBS News has reported that the Senate is now voting on whether or not to remove the provision which defunds Obamacare from the appropriations bill.