Hey the Republican Senate actually did something! The Chad Hasty Show airs 8:30-11am on 790AM KFYO.

Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images
Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images
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Repealing Obamacare

The U.S. Senate finally succeeded in passing a bill that they promised they would pass years ago! The Senate voted yesterday to repeal much of Obamacare. According to The Hill, the bill now heads to the House and then to President Obama where he will likely veto.

The Senate on Thursday passed legislation repealing the core pillars of ObamaCare, taking a major step toward sending such a bill to the president’s desk for the first time.

Republicans hailed it as a political messaging victory and a fulfillment of their promise from the 2014 midterm election to force President Obama to veto the landmark healthcare reform law named after him.

The measure passed 52 to 47 after the Senate voted to significantly strengthen the bill originally passed by the House and brought straight to the floor by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

The House will need to approve the amended legislation before it can be sent to the White House.

Thursday’s vote was a major event in the Senate, as Democrats never allowed a standalone vote on an ObamaCare repeal bill when they controlled the chamber.

Democrats were also unable to block the GOP measure, which was brought to the floor under budget reconciliation rules that prevented a filibuster.

“For too long, Democrats did everything to prevent Congress from passing the type of legislation necessary to help these Americans who are hurting,” McConnell said on the floor. “Today, that ends.”

The measure guts the law by repealing authority for the federal government to run healthcare exchanges, and scrapping subsidies to help people afford plans bought through those exchanges. It zeros out the penalties on individuals who do not buy insurance and employers who do not offer health insurance.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, missed the final vote.

The vote caps weeks of intense and at times acrimonious debate within the Senate GOP conference over how far the repeal should go.

Conservative Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who are running for president, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) threatened to oppose a House-passed repeal bill for not going far enough.

Three moderates, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), balked at it for including language defunding Planned Parenthood.

GOP leaders briefly floated the possibility of dropping the Planned Parenthood language but dropped the idea knowing it could spark a conservative backlash.

Instead, McConnell leaned on Cruz, Rubio and Lee to vote yes and sweetened the prospect by crafting an amendment that dramatically beefed up the Senate package. All three voted yes.

Senator Cruz released a statement following the bill's passage.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today voted to repeal Obamacare, an effort he has championed since being elected in 2012. This bill will repeal as much of Obamacare as possible under arcane Senate rules and the narrow guidelines from this year’s budget resolution. The reason the Senate is not voting on the flawed House reconciliation bill that left large swaths of Obamacare intact is precisely because of the guidance Sen. Cruz outlined earlier this fall.

“Since before my first day in office, I pledged to do everything within my power to repeal Obamacare. And over the last three years, I’ve worked day and night to do exactly that, sometimes to the dismay of those in Washington.

“The vote we took today is a significant step towards repealing every word of Obamacare.  This bill repeals as much of that failed law as we can under arcane Senate rules and the narrow guidelines of the budget.  I am also encouraged that this bill prohibits taxpayer funds from going to abortion-providers.  This bill is a substantial improvement over the original House bill, and I’m grateful to Senate conservatives and Senate leadership for joining me in making it so.

“I hope that our colleagues will also join me in following through on these commitments to the American people and actually passing them into law.”

Sure, Obama will veto the bill, but it's about time that the Republican Senate actually do what they campaigned on doing.

 

Speculating on Social Media

Social media is great, until you do something to make yourself look stupid on social media. After the attack Wednesday in California, social media was full of stupidity. I posted this Thursday after the show on my Facebook page.

So yesterday's shooters in California were radicalized, had 12 pipe bombs inside their home, dropped a pipe bomb that failed to detonate at police, viewed ISIS propaganda online, and were in touch with an already-known terror suspect.

Many on social media blamed guns, the 2nd Amendment, false loopholes, Republicans, and prayer. A lot of those people look foolish today. This is why speculating on social media is stupid and helps no one.

I was nice in that post. Many on the left jumped to conclusions and they look like idiots today. Blaming white people, Republicans, pro-lifers, and of course the Second Amendment was just part of the stupidity we saw on Wednesday. Blaming prayer was the saddest.

In the future we should resist speculating after a tragedy. There is a chance you will be wrong and a chance you will look like a fool.

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