Monday, February 07, 2011

Webb (D-VA) votes against ObamaCare repeal

Cross-posted at the Washington Examiner....

Many in Virginia are questioning the votes Wednesday (or lack thereof) of their Democratic Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner when the U.S. Senate took a vote on whether to repeal the health care law known as ObamaCare. It was defeated, falling along party lines and ending up 51-47 against repeal.
 According to the Wall Street Journal:
In a debate reshaped by this week's court strike against the law, the Senate voted 51-47 against repeal. All of the chamber's Democrats who were present and one independent who caucuses with them voted against it, and every Republican voted for it.
Jim Riley at Virginia Virtucon blog noted Warner was a no-show even though he was in Washington that day to address the centrist think tank Center for American Progress. So the question begs to be asked ... where was he for the Senate vote? Could he have skipped it, as some have suggested, to avoid a record of voting against the people of Virginia -- again -- or to avoid showing his lemming status voting lockstep with the Democrats?

Meanwhile, Webb lined up against repeal despite the outcry from Virginians who were for it, despite two election cycles that saw the Commonwealth's citizens vote overwhelmingly for Republicans while throwing out Democrats, and despite two federal judge rulings declaring ObamaCare as unconstitutional.

Webb's vote against repeal was noted by former U.S. Senator George Allen who recently announced his candidacy for the Senate seat now held by Webb:
"Jim Webb has once again ignored the voices of Virginians outraged by the federal health care law to side with his liberal friends in Washington. By voting against the repeal of the government run health bill he has ignored the concerns of the courts, the American people and Virginia’s job creators who believe this bill needs to be repealed and replaced with common sense reforms."
He added that Americans would be better served by "reforms that will deliver on the promise to make health care more affordable and accessible, including personal health savings accounts, and expanding competition to allow health insurance to be acquired across state lines."

With this latest round, Webb and Warner continue to show that adhering to party lines is more important than listening to all the citizens they represent.

Update: Virginia Virtucon noted that a Warner spokesman later said Warner was detained by a family emergency.

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