The House of Representatives voted today on H.R. 596, a bill that would repeal and replace ObamaCare.  H.R. 596 passed by a vote of 239 to 186.  The bill was introduced by Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) and had 98 co-sponsors. The bill requires the Committee on Education and the Workforce, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives to write replacement legislation within each committee’s jurisdiction that would:

foster economic growth and private sector job creation;

lower health care premiums;

preserve a patient's ability to keep their health plan;

provide people with preexisting conditions access to affordable health coverage;

reform the medical liability system to reduce unnecessary health care spending;

increase the number of insured Americans;

protect the doctor-patient relationship;

provide states greater flexibility to administer Medicaid programs;

expand incentives to encourage personal responsibility for health care coverage and costs;

prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions and provide conscience protections for health care providers;

eliminate duplicative government programs and wasteful spending; or

do not accelerate the insolvency of entitlement programs or increase the tax burden on Americans.

In the past, a bill such as this would have been sent over to the Senate and would have died on former-Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nevada) desk.  But with the Republicans firmly in control, the new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said to expect changes in how the Senate is run. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced legislation that would repeal ObamaCare, S. 336. Exactly which bill will be considered in the Senate, H.R. 596 or S. 336, or perhaps another, is not known at this time.  Sen. Cruz's bill currently has 47 cosponsors, including Majority Leader McConnell, which is a good indicator a repeal vote will happen. However, whatever bill the Senate considers will need 60 votes to avoid a filibuster and get it to the President's desk, unless the House and Senate decide to use a budget procedure called reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes for passage.  You can read more about what it will take to repeal ObamaCare by reading my latest WasteWatcher.  Here's a hint, a lot will depend on voters making their feelings known to their representatives and senators over and over again. Meanwhile, you can read the letter the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste sent to the House of Representatives asking for a 'yes' vote on H.R. 596 here.