Obamacare Repeal Bill Opposed By Cruz, Rubio: Senators Want Affordable Care Act Fully Revoked

Three senators, two of them Republican presidential candidates, declared Thursday that they would not vote in favor of a bill to repeal Obamacare. Instead, they want total annihilation. The bill in question leaves some parts of the bill intact, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, all say that’s unacceptable.

The bill, which the House of Representatives will consider Friday, would repeal a large portion of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law and end federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The opposition from Rubio, Cruz and Lee means that the bill is in jeopardy and may not make it to Obama’s desk.

“On Friday the House of Representatives is set to vote on a reconciliation bill that repeals only parts of Obamacare. This simply isn’t good enough. Each of us campaigned on a promise to fully repeal Obamacare and a reconciliation bill is the best way to send such legislation to President Obama’s desk,” the trio wrote in a joint statement issued Thursday. “If this bill cannot be amended so that it fully repeals Obamacare pursuant to Senate rules, we cannot support this bill. With millions of Americans now getting health premium increase notices in the mail, we owe our constituents nothing less .”

Obamacare has become a major point of contention between Democrats and Republicans, and it’s passage is partly responsible for the wave of public sentiment against the Democratic party that ushered in both Rubio and Cruz.

Rubio and Cruz find themselves in a pretty close race with one another in the presidential race. Rubio places fourth in averages of national polls, at 9 percent of the vote, just above Cruz’s 8 percent. They are both far behind the two frontrunners, real estate magnate Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

Though they trail the front-runners, they are the highest polling candidates in the Republican nominating field who have actually been elected into public office. They are also ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who was once seen as an almost inevitable Republican nominee.