ObamaCare Repeal Goes Nowhere in Senate

It won't be tacked on to highway funding bill
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 27, 2015 3:31 AM CDT
ObamaCare Repeal Goes Nowhere in Senate
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., left, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, right, attend a press conference on ObamaCare as the Senate convened for a Sunday session.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

An ObamaCare repeal vote in the Senate that Ted Cruz predicted would be an "exercise in meaningless political theater" didn't produce any surprises in a rare Sunday session yesterday. All 92 of the senators that showed up voted along party lines and the measure failed to reach the needed 60 votes, reports Politico, which notes that all 49 of the Republican senators present, including freshmen, can now say they've voted to repeal ObamaCare, even if some of them acknowledge that a full repeal and replace is unlikely.

The vote came as part of a session on a highway funding bill that has to pass by Friday to prevent bringing a halt to construction projects across the country, reports USA Today. While the move to add ObamaCare repeal to the funding bill was rejected, the Senate did approve an amendment to revive the Export-Import Bank, which has been targeted by conservatives like Cruz, by a 67-26 vote, the AP reports. Cruz—who called Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar in a debate over the export credit agency Friday—didn't back down from his remarks yesterday, even though several of his colleagues spoke to condemn such "misuses of the Senate floor," the AP notes. (More Ted Cruz stories.)

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