President Obama vetoed on Friday the Republican-backed legislation that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and defund the country's largest abortion provider.
The measure passed in the Senate last month, 52 to 47. It passed the House on Wednesday, 240 to 181, nearly entirely along party lines.
The bill -- H.R. 3762 or the "Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015" -- aimed to defund Planned Parenthood of the $450 million it receives in annual federal funding, dismantle the Affordable Care Act, and subsequently end the taxes that fund the healthcare law. It was vetoed two days after it was sent to the President's desk.
"This legislation would not only repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, but would reverse the significant progress we have made in improving health care in America," the president wrote in his veto letter to the members of the House. "About 17.6 million Americans have gained health care coverage as the law's coverage provisions have taken effect. The nation's uninsured rate now stands at its lowest level ever, and demand for marketplace coverage during December 2015 was at an all-time high."
Neither the House nor the Senate has enough Republican votes to override the veto. Despite this, Republicans in Congress consider the fact that they avoided a Democratic filibuster in the Senate and passed the repeal legislation to reach the president's desk after over 50 attempts a success.
"We have now shown that there is a clear path to repealing Obamacare without 60 votes in the Senate," House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said after the veto. "So, next year, if we're sending this bill to a Republican president, it will get signed into law. Obamacare will be gone."
