WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House of Representatives, under new Republican leadership, voted along party lines to repeal the Health Care law crafted by the last Congress, which was controlled by Democrats. But the repeal will have difficulty in the U.S. Senate, where Democrats still are in control.
The repeal prompted criticism from Democrats and also of one Democratic congressman whose rhetoric included references to the Holocaust.
David A. Harris, president and CEO of the National Jewish Democratic Council, said in response to the vote: “Last year, NJDC – alongside so many others – worked tirelessly to support the passage of historic health care reform legislation. The Affordable Care Act made dramatic improvements to our health insurance system -from expanding access to coverage, to lowering costs and preventing discrimination based on pre-existing conditions – which will benefit millions of Americans across the country. Today, the Republican-led House of Representatives took a politically-fueled step in the wrong direction by voting to repeal the legislation for which we all fought so hard. But we can’t stop the forward march of progress now. NJDC believes that every American deserves the right to have access to quality, affordable health care. The Republicans’ repeal efforts would greatly limit that access. As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pointed out, ‘Almost half of all Americans under 65 have pre-existing conditions insurance companies could use as excuses to deny coverage under Republican’ plan to repeal health care reform.’ This is an unacceptable outcome and one of the many reasons why such a large majority of American Jews refuse to stand with the Republican Party. We will continue to fight against the Republican Party’s increasingly extremist right-wing agenda. We look forward to working with the Democratic-led Senate and President Barack Obama to ensure that the country does not move backwards when it comes to reforming our health care system.”
Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-California) said: “My mother always told me that if you have your health, you have everything, which is why I’ve always believed every American should have access to the care they need to be healthy. Now, my colleagues want to repeal health care reform without an alternative. It’s easy to say you’re against something, but it’s much harder to come up with solutions. Americans deserve to know how my colleagues’ plan will protect patients. Women shouldn’t get denied care based on gender or have to pay hundreds more in insurance premiums than men – nor should they need a permission slip to see an OB/GYN. The 32 million Americans without insurance need access to coverage. Insurers shouldn’t deny children coverage because they’ve been sick. Medicare must be kept solvent over the long term, and seniors should have access to affordable prescriptions. Americans shouldn’t face outrageous annual premium hikes, such as the 59 percent increase many of my own constituents are looking at today. The current health care reform law addresses each of these problems and many more. It’s irresponsible to repeal without a plan to fix the issues in our health care system.”
Meanwhile the Republican Jewish Coalition criticized the rhetoric of Rep. Steve Cohen (R-Tennessee). Matthew Brooks, the RJC’s CEO, said: ” This is a very disturbing development. After leaders of both parties called upon their rank-and-file members to choose their words with more prudence and sensitivity in the aftermath of the horrible events in Tucson, Congressman Cohen’s outrageous use of Holocaust rhetoric should offend us all. Even the National Jewish Democratic Council frets that Cohen has ‘reintroduced the Holocaust into the health care debate’ after Jewish community leaders and others worked so hard to push it to the margins. Unfortunately, Congressman Cohen is not a first-time offender when it comes to debasing our discourse. He previously described the atmosphere at a demonstration in Tennessee as ‘the verge of Kristallnacht.’ In the spirit of recent bipartisan comments, Democratic leaders in the House need to prevail upon this habitually uncivil back-bencher to tone it down.”
Speaking late Tuesday night on the House floor during debate on legislation to repeal the 2010 health-reform statute, Rep. Cohen said: “They say it’s a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels. You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That’s the same kind of thing. The Germans said enough about the Jews and people believed it–believed it and you have the Holocaust.”
Brooks noted that the RJC is a signatory to the Anti-Defamation League’s “Statement on Civility in National Public Discourse,” issued in May, 2010. That document urged elected officials to strive for “advocacy that is vigorous and pointed, but not personal or hostile.” ADL’s statement announcing the initiative specifically cited the aim of avoiding a return to “the volatile climate that emerged during the health care vote on Capitol Hill” last year.
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Preceding culled from press releases issued by the NJDC, Susan Davis and the RJC
The RJC has consistently condemned excessive and uncivil rhetoric from both sides of the aisle.