The 26 month Repeal and Replace of Obamacare Began Wednesday With a Blast Off!

The United States House of Representative voted overwhelmingly, 245 to 189 (a 56 vote margin!) to repeal Obamacare Wednesday. Incredibly, every Republican voted to repeal. Only three Democrats —Dan Boren (D-Okla.), Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), and Mike Ross (D-Ark.)— voted for Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act. Jeffrey Anderson, at the Weekly Standard, (hat tip Scott Johnson) considers the meaning of the House vote:

Reflecting the clear and strongly held views of the vast majority of Americans, the House has voted overwhelmingly to repeal ObamaCare.

Last March, the House voted to pass ObamaCare by a tally of 219 to 212 — a margin of 7 votes; today it voted to repeal ObamaCare by a tally of 245 to 189 — a margin of 56 votes. Ten months ago, the vote was 51 percent to 49 percent — a margin of 2 percentage points; today it was 56 percent to 44 percent — a margin of 12 percentage points. So the margin for repeal was 49 votes and 10 percentage points bigger than the margin for passage.

Many have described this as being merely a symbolic vote. But, in truth, the 112th House will never pass a more important bill. It seems quite strange, moreover, that anyone would ever call legislation to repeal a 2,700-page law, which also happens to be the President’s centerpiece initiative, anything other than substantive.

Now the repeal bill will advance to the Democratic Senate, where senators will have the chance to respond to the people’s will by voting yes, voting no, or refusing even to hold a vote. Their choice, too, will be substantive — and will say a lot about the current composition of that body.

But before transferring our thoughts too much to the Senate, let us take a moment to appreciate what has happened today in the House: Less than ten months after ObamaCare’s passage, the repeal movement has notched its first legislative victory!

Moreover, this victory will give Republicans momentum. In the days and weeks to come, they will work to defund ObamaCare. They will conduct oversight hearings on such matters as the Obama administration’s misuse of taxpayer money to promote ObamaCare. And, most of all, they will advance serious Republican alternatives to this unprecented threat to limited government, fiscal solvency, and liberty. In short, Republicans have voted to repeal perhaps the most contentious legislation in generations. They will now showcase the sorts of real reform that should take its place.

This vote should be a major 2012 election issue for many of the 189 Democrats. For example, that vote will be very unpopular with voters in two of the four House districts (first and seventh) held by Democrats in Minnesota. Now, on to the US Senate where Senator Reid, has declared he will not schedule a vote. If the Senate does not vote, every Democrats whose term is up in 2010 should be assumed to be against repeal.