In the News

LITTLE ROCK — For the first time, Congress on Wednesday sent a bill to President Barack Obama to repeal the Affordable Care Act, his signature piece of legislation.

The bill, which also would block funding to Planned Parenthood, passed 240 to 181 in the House after passing 52 to 47 in the Senate last month. Certain to be vetoed, the bill was seen as a symbolic gesture.

All four members of Arkansas’ House delegation voted for the bill. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, a member of the House Budget Committee, joined House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and other House Republican leaders in a news conference before the vote.

“This bill guts Medicaid expansion,” Westerman said. “This is one of the most egregious parts of Obamacare. If you look at traditional Medicaid, it’s for the aged, blind, and the disabled. Medicaid expansion is for working age, able-bodied adults. We pay 57 percent of the cost to states for traditional Medicaid the aged, blind and disabled, yet we’re paying 90 percent to 100 percent for the cost of Medicaid expansion.”

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, said in a statement after the vote that Congress had “placed a repeal of the most onerous parts of Obamacare and an elimination of federal funding for Planned Parenthood on President Obama’s desk, forcing him to make a tough choice: respect the will of the American people or protect his namesake law and Planned Parenthood. Unfortunately, his decision will be disappointingly predictable.”

Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, said in a statement, “In addition to repealing the most harmful portions of Obamacare, tonight’s vote also blocks federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which is still under investigation by U.S. House committees for the terrible allegations against the organization that came to light last year. This bill demonstrates a Congress united in protecting both life and quality health care, but also a Congress committed to fiscal solvency in the face of our nation’s growing national debt, which currently stands at more than $18 trillion.”

Rep. French Hill, R-Little Rock, said, “For those in Congress who are determined to gut Obamacare in its entirety, today signifies a major win in bringing down the fortress Harry Reid and Senate Democrats have built around this disaster of a law. Today likely won’t be the end of the road in this fight, but if the President vetoes this bill, it will be clear to the American people that Washington Democrats not only created the problem, but they are also now unmistakably responsible for blocking the solution.”

More than 200,000 low-income Arkansans have obtained private health insurance through the private option, Arkansas’ alternative to the expansion of Medicaid rolls envisioned in the Affordable Care Act. Ryan Saylor, a spokesman for Westerman, said in an email Wednesday, “Congressman Westerman and his colleagues in the House continue to work on a replacement bill for Obamacare.”