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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

GOP presses forward to undo Obama actions

Health care first, Keystone next week

David Espo And Alan Fram Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Newly empowered congressional Republicans challenged President Barack Obama at both ends of the Capitol on Tuesday, voting in the House to repeal the health care program he signed into law but faltering in an initial Senate attempt to roll back immigration policies he issued on his own.

There was a third challenge as well, as Republican leaders announced the House would give final approval next week on legislation clearing the way for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. That would trigger Obama’s threatened veto, the first in a new era of divided government.

The skirmishes all seemed likely to end in eventual defeat for Republicans, but served as a potent reminder of their power after Obama challenged them bluntly last month with his State of the Union address and a no-balance budget on Monday calling for higher taxes and new spending.

The vote was 239-186 to repeal the health care law known as Obamacare. Similar votes have been held more than 50 times in the four years.

“Today, I am making good on my commitment to support a full repeal of Obamacare,” said Rep. Alex Mooney, a West Virginia Republican who took his seat in Congress last month.

The bill included instructions to key committees to begin work on a replacement that the party promised in the 2010 political campaign. Officials described that as a measure of preparation in case the Supreme Court overturns a key portion of the existing program in a ruling expected this June.

Across the Capitol, Democrats blocked debate on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security and simultaneously overturn presidential executive orders that have spared an estimated 4 million immigrants in the country illegally from the threat of deportation. The vote was 51-48, nine shy of the 60 needed to begin work on the measure.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said his rank and file would continue to block action on the measure until Republicans agree to strip out the immigration provisions.

The Department of Homeland Security will lose a portion of its funding Feb. 27 unless Congress has acted by then.

Rhetoric aside, the vote appeared to be part of a delicate dance in which the Senate GOP leadership, knowing it lacked the votes to prevail, wanted to demonstrate as much to anti-immigration lawmakers who helped pass the measure through the House last month. The provisions that drew objections from Democrats would roll back administration policies that shield millions of immigrants from the threat of deportation even if they are in the country illegally, and also give protection to younger immigrants brought to the country unlawfully by their parents.

Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said it was up to Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Jeff Sessions of Alabama as well as Democrats to “stand with the American people and to block the president’s action.”

The speaker did not say what the next step would be if, as expected, the bill was bottled up in the Senate.