House Republicans have introduced the first of, probably, many small pieces of legislation designed to pull apart the Affordable Care Act. This morning it was Rep. Chris Smith’s (R-NJ) “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” HR3, a bill that pro-life Democrats have told me they can support.
“[The American people] spoke about this issue on America Speaking Out,” said Speaker of the House John Boehner, explaining why the GOP was moving ahead on this part of the health care fight. “They spoke on this issue loudly and clearly.”
This prompted the obvious questions: Wait, weren’t you promising to focus on job creation?
“When you look at the repeal of the health care law yesterday, one of the significant issues was that it was destroying jobs in America,” said Boehner. “If you look at the policies enacted over last 2 years, they’ve led to uncertainty.”
With the health care repeal vote behind him, Boehner entertained one question on the hypothetical/certain outcome if full repeal dies in the Senate. The response to that – as evidenced by this bill coming so quickly – is to dismantle the health care bill starting with its least popular components.
“We’re going to use all the legislative tools available to us to stop it,” said Boehner.
