re: "Blackburn One-Year Delay of Obamacare Approved by House as Part of Continuing Resolution to Prevent Government Shutdown"

While many of us may have been sleeping, there was a 12:11 A.M. vote on HJ Res 59 in the U.S. House of Representatives. As reported on the web site of Representative Marsha Blackburn:

"Congressman [sic] Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) issued the following statement on House passage of a continuing resolution that includes her proposal to delay Obamacare for one year. The resolution approved by the House prevents a government shutdown, delays Obamacare for one year, and repeals the medical device tax. The House also acted on legislation to ensure our men and women in uniform get paid should the Senate fail to act to fund the government.

"'House Republicans have acted in a responsible manner to provide the American people with what they want – a continuing resolution that prevents a government shutdown, controls spending, and protects families and businesses from the harmful effects of Obamacare,' Blackburn said. 'By repealing the unfair medical device tax, this CR also protects the jobs of the 10,000 men and women in Tennessee who work in the medical device industry.'

"'By delaying Obamacare for one year, the House has shown we are listening to the American people who never wanted this law in the first place. Overwhelmingly, our constituents have told us that they want us to delay the onset of Obamacare. It’s too expensive to afford, families can’t keep the insurance plan they like, and it’s killing jobs. It’s become painfully clear that Obmacare is not ready for primetime and in fairness to hardworking Americans the entire law must be delayed. Now it’s time for the Senate to act.

"'In addition to delaying Obamacare for one year, my amendment protects people from the radical HHS mandate which violates millions of Americans' deeply-held religious beliefs and it prevents taxpayer subsidies from going to insurance plans that include elective abortion coverage.'"

While not perfect, Heritage Action for America reminds us that "a delay is a step towards preventing the law’s entitlements from taking root":

"Over the past few months, conservatives around the country have focused on the need to defund Obamacare during the upcoming CR, primarily to prevent the law’s massive new entitlements from taking effect. The Blackburn Amendment presented by House Republicans is a delay of Obamacare’s provisions but does not fully defund implementation of Obamacare. Although it falls short of full defunding, Heritage Action will not key vote against the Blackburn Amendment because a delay is a step towards preventing the law’s entitlements from taking root.

"The Paulsen Amendment, which would permanently repeal the Medical Device Tax, does nothing to prevent the law’s entitlements from taking root and continues funding Obamacare in its entirety.  Like the rest of Obamacare, the tax is bad policy; however, repealing the tax will do little to exempt Americans from the impact of Obamacare.  Heritage Action opposes the Paulsen Amendment, which fails to address the core problems of Obamacare.  

"While passage of H.J.Res.59 would prevent Obamacare’s mandatory programs from coming online this Tuesday, it has failed to fully defund the law.  There is, however, a likely threat that Sen. Harry Reid will block the Blackburn Amendment and return the CR with nothing but the Medical Device Tax repeal. Heritage Action would strongly oppose such legislation and reserves the right to key vote against the Paulsen Amendment."

Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick was among the 231 "Yes" votes - a group which included the good company of Representative Chris Smith.