To nobody's surprise, the Senate voted against a repeal of the healthcare reform law in a 47-51 vote that followed party lines, the Washington Post reports.
The vote came Wednesday, two weeks after the House GOP voted 245-189 to repeal the law, according to The Hill's Healthwatch blog.
Although the possibility of an outright repeal is remote, because Democrats control the Senate and President Obama would be sure to use his veto power if necessary, Republicans will continue to push to dismantle parts of the reform, bit by bit, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Should those votes fall through, Democrats are on record after yesterday's vote, which could be used against them in the 2012 elections.
In related news, the Senate voted to repeal part of the President Obama's healthcare reform, Politico reports. The amendment to delete the IRS 1099 reporting requirement, an unpopular part of the law that required businesses to report annual purchases of goods and services of more than $600, passed in an 81-17 vote with broad bipartisan support. Last week in his State of the Union speech, Obama identified it as something that needed fixing.
The American Medical Association praised the Senate vote to kill the reporting requirement, saying in a press release, that the provision would have placed an unnecessary burden on physician practices.
To learn more:
- read the AMA press release
- here's the Washington Post story
- read the Christian Science Monitor story
- here's The Hill's Healthwatch blog post