The following is a list of efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (commonly called the ACA or "Obamacare"), which had been enacted by the 111th United States Congress on March 23, 2010.
Background
A January 9, 2017 Congressional Research Service report entitled "Legislative Actions to Repeal, Defund, or Delay the Affordable Care Act," noted that since ACA was passed in 2010, Congress has been deeply divided over the ACA. "Lawmakers opposed to specific provisions in the ACA or the entire law have repeatedly debated its implementation and considered bills to repeal, defund, delay, or otherwise amend the law." In October 2013, there was a "partial shutdown of government operations" that lasted over two weeks because of a disagreement between the "Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-led House" over the "inclusion of ACA language" in the FY2014 temporary spending bill.
112th Congress (2011–2012) In 2011, after Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives, one of the first votes held was on a bill titled "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act" (H.R. 2), which the House passed 245–189. All Republicans and 3 Democrats voted for repeal. House Democrats proposed an amendment that repeal not take effect until a majority of the Senators and Representatives had opted out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program; Republicans voted down the measure. In the Senate, the bill was offered as an amendment to an unrelated bill, but was voted down. President Obama had stated that he would have vetoed the bill even if it had passed both chambers of Congress.
Following the 2012 Supreme Court ruling upholding ACA as constitutional, Republicans held another vote to repeal the law on July 11; the House of Representatives voted with all 244 Republicans and 5 Democrats in favor of repeal, which marked the 33rd, partial or whole, repeal attempt.
113th Congress (2013–2014) In January 2013, Republicans introduced An act to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the United States House of Representatives.
2013 federal government shutdown
Strong partisan disagreement in Congress prevented adjustments to the Act's provisions. However, at least one change, a proposed repeal of a tax on medical devices, has received bipartisan support. Some Congressional Republicans argued against improvements to the law on the grounds they would weaken the arguments for repeal.
Republicans attempted to defund its implementation, and in October 2013, House Republicans refused to fund the federal government unless accompanied with a delay in ACA implementation, after the President unilaterally deferred the employer mandate by one year, which critics claimed he had no power to do. The House passed three versions of a bill funding the government while submitting various versions that would repeal or delay ACA, with the last version delaying enforcement of the individual mandate. The Democratic Senate leadership stated the Senate would only pass a "clean" funding bill without any restrictions on ACA. The government shutdown began on October 1. Senate Republicans threatened to block appointments to relevant agencies, such as the Independent Payment Advisory Board and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
114th Congress (2015–2016) On February 3, 2015, the House of Representatives added its 67th repeal vote to the record (239 to 186). This attempt also failed.
The House passed the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015 on October 23, 2015 under the FY2016 budget reconciliation process, which prevents the possibility of a filibuster in the Senate. The bill would have partially repealed the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, notably the individual and employer mandates as well as the taxes on Cadillac insurance plans. Some conservatives in both the House and Senate opposed the bill because it did not completely repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would have been inconsistent with the rules governing budget reconciliation bills. The bill was the 61st time that the House had voted to fully or partially repeal the Affordable Care Act. The bill also would have removed federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year. The bill was expected to be vetoed by President Obama should it pass the Senate.
In early December, the Senate passed an amended version of the healthcare reconciliation bill, sending it back to the House. It was passed by the House on January 6, 2016, and vetoed by President Obama on January 8, the sixth veto of his presidency. The House failed to override the President's veto on February on a vote of 241–186, which did not meet the required two-thirds supermajority.
