Not a single Republican voted for the Affordable Care Act better known as Obamacare. Moreover, several Democrats had to be persuaded with favors traded for their votes.
- To pass Obamacare Democrats played a version of Name Your Deal and provided goodies to certain Senators in return for their votes. Colorful and descriptive monikers included the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, Gator Aid, the Montana Earmark and the New England Handouts.
- Obamacare passed the House on March 21, 2010 with a vote of 219-212 with 34 Democrats joining all 174 Republicans to vote against the bill.
- fIn a desperate vote on Christmas Eve of 2010 Obamacare passed the Senate by a vote of 60-39 with no Republicans voting for the bill. All Democrats and two Independents allowed the ruling party to have the super majority needed to prevent a filibuster.
- In fact Obamacare passed in the Senate without a single vote to spare and passed in the House by seven votes, or about 1.5% of the total membership.
Commenting on possible action by the Supreme Court on April 2, 2012 President Obama said his bill was “passed by a strong majority.” Half-truth? Exaggeration? Wishful thinking? You choose the correct description of his words. Regardless, President Obama neglected to mention the fact that not a single Republican voted for his bill. And he failed to acknowledge he was required to trade favors for votes in his own party in the Senate.
Ross Puskar is the author of the political satire Founding Fathers Know Best the story of the spirits of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison returning to the White House to help the new President. They’ll remind him the Constitution is still the law of the land and help him with the problems of the election of 2012.
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