House Passes Mattis Waiver; Also Moves First Step in Obamacare Repeal

The Mad Dog is unchained.

As you probably know, a federal law of questionable constitutionality states that a nominee must be at least seven years a civilian before being appointed to a cabinet position.

The House voted 268-151 on the waiver. Thirty-six Democrats voted in favor of the waiver, while one Republican, Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), voted against it.

The Senate on Thursday voted 81-17 to pass the waiver.

Amash, huh? Keep your eye out for that name in the next story.

The House also took the first step towards repealing Obamacare, which is a measure to block the Democrats from filibustering a repeal in the Senate:

The framework does not directly deal with repealing the Affordable Care Act. Rather, it would prevent Democrats from using a Senate filibuster to derail a future bill nixing and replacing the health law. That's critical because it takes 60 votes to end filibusters, and Republicans have only a 52-48 Senate majority.

The budget, which does not need the president's signature, was considered a critical step for majority Republicans in their bid to work with the incoming Donald Trump administration in fulfilling vows to replace the health care law.

According to Phil Kerpen, Amash was super-busy in the House today:

R No votes on repeal resolution:
Amash, Dent, Fitzpatrick, Jones, Katko, Labrador, MacArthur, Massie, McClintock

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) January 13, 2017

Update: Drew provided this explanation from Amash:

posted by Ace at 04:30 PM

| Access Comments