Not Even Catharsis Is Seen in Senate Vote to Repeal Health Law

The New York Times reports:

Republicans say they will spend the election year using the vote as part of a broader call to elect a president of their party to get rid of the Affordable Care Act altogether. Democrats concede cooperation from their side is unlikely.

The vote on Thursday night was the first time since enactment of the health care law in March 2010 that the Senate was able to clear a repeal measure. And Republicans were able to do it only by using a special legislative vehicle called a budget reconciliation bill, which is not subject to a filibuster, and their vote, too, was strictly party line. (The House by contrast has voted at least 61 times on bills to repeal the law, or dismantle core components of it.)

For Representative Tom Price, Republican of Georgia, who is also an orthopedic surgeon and one of the toughest critics of the health care law, the Senate bill was such a momentous occasion that he walked across the Capitol to watch the proceedings.

“It’s good stuff, good stuff,” Mr. Price said. “This is simply the majority in Congress, representing the American people.”

The New York Times is upset.