GOP Senate Voting Today On Bill Repealing Obamacare |

Today in Washington, D.C. - Dec. 3, 2015:

DOD Sec. Ashton Carter

Defense Department: Secretary of Defense Carter has announced that all combat jobs will be open to women. "Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced Thursday that the military will open all combat jobs to women, saying the military cannot afford to shut out half of the U.S. population from fighting on the battlefield. 'There will be no exemptions,' Mr. Carter told reporters at a press conference. 'To succeed in our mission of national defense, we cannot afford to cut ourselves off from half the country's talents and skills. We have to take full advantage of every individual who can meet our standards.'"

The House reconvened at 9:00 AM today.

It resumed consideration and amendments and passed 249-174 H.R. 8 — "To modernize energy infrastructure, build a 21st century energy and manufacturing workforce, bolster America's energy security and diplomacy, and promote energy efficiency and government accountability, and for other purposes."

The House has also approved the conference report 359 - 65 for H.R. 22 Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act -"To authorize funds for Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and transit programs, and for other purposes." Speaker Ryan, noted, ""Today, we passed the first long-term transportation legislation in a decade. This five-year, fully-funded bill will help sustain and improve our highways, bridges, railroads, and other vital transit systems. These projects are some of the most important investments we make as a country. I thank Chairman Shuster for tireless work on this measure from start to finish. This is what getting things done looks like—an open amendment process, a conference committee, and time to read the bills before voting on them."

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) today applauded forthcoming House action on H.R. 158, the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act. The schedule for taking up H.R. 158 is sometime next week. Ryan said, ""Following the attacks in Paris last month, a bipartisan majority in the House swiftly urged the Obama administration to pause its Syrian refugee resettlement program. We also pledged to examine other potential vulnerabilities that foreign terrorists could exploit to enter the country. . . . thoughtful legislation offered by Rep. Candice Miller to ratchet up security guidelines within the Visa Waiver Program. This bill requires more stringent and regular assessments of the program and increases data sharing on foreign travelers to ensure we know exactly who is entering our country."

Yesterday the House passed S. 1177 (359-64) - "To reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that every child achieves."

The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed consideration of H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, aka the Obamacare repeal legislation.

At 1:30 PM, all time for debate on the bill expired and the Senate began a vote-a-rama on all amendments filed to the bill. Votes on amendments will continue until all amendments are disposed of.

Following that, the Senate will vote on final passage of H.R. 3762. Under reconciliation rules, the bill will require a simple majority for passage.

After the House has voted on the conference report for the highway and transportation bill, the Senate will take it up this evening.

The AP writes today, "Republicans pushed legislation toward Senate approval Thursday that would demolish President Barack Obama's signature health care law and halt Planned Parenthood's federal mone, setting up a veto fight . . . .

"Congress has voted dozens of times to repeal all or parts of the 2010 statute. If the House, as expected, sends the Senate bill to Obama, it will be the first to reach the White House and be vetoed, an act Republicans say will highlight GOP priorities for voters.

"'It's defined by failure,' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said of the law Thursday, blaming it for rising medical costs and citing problems encountered by Kentuckians. 'It's punctuated with hopelessness. And the scale of its many broken promises is matched only by the scale of its defenders' rigid and unfeeling responses to them.'"

The Hill adds, "Republicans are closer than they have ever been to sending an ObamaCare repeal bill to the president's desk. . . . The House has voted 56 times to repeal all or part of ObamaCare, but those Republican-led efforts have died in the Senate. Now that the upper chamber is under Republican control, the party has a chance to score a significant … victory on Thursday . . . . The Senate bill actually goes significantly further than a version the House passed earlier this year. . . .

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) needs 51 votes to pass the repeal package under a special budgetary process known as reconciliation that circumvents the 60-vote hurdle usually required for controversial bills. He has ramped up pressure on colleagues in recent weeks to vote yes.

"McConnell's message is simple: Failure is not an option. 'This is America's chance to turn the page and write a new and more hopeful beginning,' he said on the Senate floor Wednesday. 'This is our chance to work toward a healthier and more prosperous future with true reform that moves beyond the failures of a broken law.'

"'We made a promise to [voters] that if they gave us the majority last November we would have this vote and we would place this squarely in front of the president,' Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas) said."

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