NIKKI HALEY LOST Nullifying the Nullifiers The Nullify Obamacare bill was voted down in the SC Senate in a late Wednesday night session with a vote of 33 opposed to 9 in favor of the House-passed version. Sen. Tom Davis (R-Beaufort) totally rewrote H- 3101, which expressly rejected Medicaid expansion and regulated federal Navigators, died after Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell ruled that Davis amendment was not germane to the House version. McConnell, who serves as President of the Senate, said of the House version, I was having trouble understanding what that bill really did. Sen. Brad Hutto (D-Orangeburg) raised a point of order that the regulations placed on Navigators had nothing to do with the original bill. McConnell agreed, and ruled that Davis entire amendment was out of order. Davis, in a move seen as disrespectful in the body that prides itself on being deliberative, appealed McConnells ruling to the Senate floor. Upholding the decision to kill Davis amended bill were 28 senators, 14 from each party. With Davis version of H-3101 dead, the vote then was called on the original House version that even Davis had declared unconstitutional. Only nine Republicans voted to adopt the Nullify Obamacare version of the bill. In the end, 19 Republicans joined 14 Democrats to reject the bill on a 33 to 9 vote. That only nine of 28 Republican senators took the rigid Tea Party stance against Obamacare is seen by Progressive Network Director Brett Bursey as a rare victory for rational thought. But Bursey warned that the damage is already done, and this whole debate has been bad theater. South Carolinians are already suffering from the states refusal to participate in the Affordable Care Act, with over 1,000 deaths predicted this year because we didnt take the Medicaid expansion money. The death of H-3101 doesnt mean that South Carolina lawmakers will stop obstructing the ACA. We are still turning down money for a state insurance marketplace and Medicaid expansion. The Davis bill would have added regulating Navigators and blocking public bodies from helping people get insurance to the states anti-Obamacare campaign. A goal of our Truthful Tuesday protests, Bursey said, was to get people talking, change the dialogue, and reduce the Tea Party influence on Republicans. That is happening. *** South Carolina Progressive Network * POB 8325 Columbia SC 29202 803-808-3384 * network@scpronet * scpronet
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 22:34:35 +0000
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