Maybe we’re wrong to assume ObamaCare can’t be repealed until Mitt Romney is elected.
If the mandate is a tax, it’s repeal would have to be initiated in the House, where Republicans have a strong majority. And, since it’s a tax, a simple majority in the Senate would be sufficient to repeal it since 60-vote majorities are not required to enact tax-related measures.
Although Democrats have a slight majority in the Senate, Democratic Senators running for re-election this year would be under extreme pressure to vote for the mandate’s repeal, in order to avoid suffering the fate of their former colleagues whose 2009 pro-ObamaCare votes caused them to be defeated in landslide numbers in 2010. It’s not unlikely that four or five Democratic Senators who want to keep their jobs would vote with the pro-repeal Republicans. And that would do it.
John Boehner already has a repeal vote scheduled for the House in about a week. Things will get very interesting, and our side has a respectable chance of winning.
Nice dream, but never gonna happen in reality.
1) What are the chances that Reid would allow it to come up for a vote in the Senate?
2) Should it be repealed in both the House and Senate, what are the chances that Obama would not veto it?
The one great thing about bringing a repeal vote is that it is going to force a lot of democraps to go on record against the American people just prior to an election.