Next week, the United States House of Representatives, now with a Republican majority, will vote on the repeal of the Obama health care initiative.  Sometimes bills are thousands of pages long.  This one is short:

 

 

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112TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION

H. R. __

To repeal the job-killing health care law and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. CANTOR (for himself and [see ATTACHED LIST of cosponsors]) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
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A BILL
To repeal the job-killing health care law and health care related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act’’.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF THE JOB-KILLING HEALTH CARE LAWAND HEALTH CARE-RELATED PROVISIONS IN THE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2010.

(a) JOB-KILLING HEALTH CARE LAW.—Effective as of the enactment of Public Law 111–148, such Act is repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such Act are restored or revived as if such Act had not been enacted.

(b) HEALTH CARE-RELATED PROVISIONS IN THE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2010.—Effective as of the enactment of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–152), title I and subtitle B of title II of such Act are repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such title or subtitle, respectively, are restored or revived as if such title and subtitle had not been enacted.

 

 

 

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The House favored repeal today, 236 to 181 and largely along party lines, on the rules that will govern the debate on the repeal bill.  The House vote on repeal will probably be the same.  But the bill will then fail in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

 

So why bother?  If the voting is sure to result in failure and require further negotiation and a new bill, why vote on this one?

 

To have everyone stand up and be counted.

 

The media calls this a symbolic vote and it is, but it is also more:  It compels every newly-elected and returning representative and senator to take a side.  And there is a great virtue in that clarity as we push forward.

 

Kenny Corzine was a member of the battered 3rd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment.  He lost both his legs on December 5th and died from his injuries on Christmas Eve.  He was buried yesterday, in the first week of the new year.

 

This year will be the tenth since September 11th.  Yesterday the Secretary of Defense announced that our troop levels in Afghanistan will be increased by two Marine battalions (about 1200 troops each) sent to the area where the 3/5 operates.  The troop draw-down is to begin this fall, but the draw-down will not end before 2014.  If that schedule holds, a child born on 9/11 will be entering high school before we are out.

 

We have had multiple presidential elections and multiple financial crises in that time.  It would be understandable, though not forgivable, if most Americans chose to ignore the war.  Indeed, September 11th, like December 7th, has been relegated to history.  Is any American still angry about the attack on Pearl Harbor?

 

Or worse:  Has the war gone on so long that our anger at the Islamists has turned inward, as it was during the Johnson and Nixon years?  Instead of ignoring Kenny, do we hate him?

 

Westboro Baptist Church called a referendum.

 

Five of our friends from Westboro arrived an hour before the funeral service began and left fifteen minutes before it began.  They brought clarity.  As hundreds filed into the church, a thousand good Americans stood between the Westboro people and the funeral site.  You might say the vote was 1000 to 5.  You knew where everyone stood by where they were standing.

 

Kenny’s friend and comrade Corporal Luke Malone spoke at his funeral service:  "As you can see from everybody here in this building, all of the people gathered outside, the Patriot Guard, the veterans, and the community, Kenny did not die in vain, and he will not be forgotten."

 

Like the health care repeal vote, it’s not about the outcome – it’s about voting.  When we are out in the cold with our flags we are letting Kenny’s family, their neighbors and all Americans know that we are grateful.  We are on Kenny’s side and we are glad he was on ours.

 

We will take another vote anytime you say, Shirley.  You were semper fidelis, Kenny.  And now get some, Darkhorse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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