Wednesday, January 04, 2017, the U.S. Senate voted 51-48 to repeal Obamacare. Republicans in the Senate are using a budget resolution to perform the repeal.
The budget resolution called for the dismantling of Obamacare as part of reconciling taxes and spending with the budget plan.
This is a great victory for conservatives, who have worked tirelessly to repeal the health-care law. Some aspects of Obamacare raised questions about whether doctors would legally have to perform abortions; even if doing so would violate their deeply-held religious beliefs. Some other provisions within the law could be interpreted to force medical professionals to perform sex-change operations for transgender people.
Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement after the repeal was introduced in the Senate:
This is the first step toward relief for Americans who are struggling under Obamacare. This resolution sets the stage for repeal followed by a stable transition to a better health care system. Our goal is to ensure that patients will be in control of their health care and have greater access to quality, affordable coverage. Today we begin to deliver on our promise to the American people.
It now remains for the House of Representatives to vote similarly.
