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AZ's GOP Congressmen Vote to Repeal Affordable Care Act

Arizona’s U-S House lawmakers voted along party lines in another Republican attempt to repeal the nation’s health care law.  The Democrats accuse the G-O-P of breaking their promise to replace the law, not merely repeal it.

Hours after the Supreme Court upheld the health law Republicans were preparing for the repeal vote. By some counts it’s the thirty first time the House has voted to repeal all or part of the law. Arizona Democrat Raul Grijalva says the G-O-P is just trying to score political points while avoiding any attempt to reform the system.

“There’s a realization that it is indeed theater," Grijalva said. "If anything they’re going to wonder why we aren’t doing some serious business here. If there is any fall out for the Republicans it’s going to be about wasting time.”

Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, who is running for the Senate, says his party has a plan, they just need to scrap the president’s health care bill first.  

“Well if you look at a lot of the legislation that’s been passed to repeal the certain part it’s been to do other things as well and over the years we passed requirements that insurance companies can compete across state lines, tort reform issues, so we’ve done a lot of these elements already,” Flake said.

The repeal bill is expected to die in the Senate, but the issue isn’t going anywhere ahead of November’s elections.

Based on Capitol Hill, Matt Laslo is a freelance reporter who has been covering Congress, the White House and the Supreme Courtfor more than five years. While he has filed stories for more than 40 local NPR stations, his work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The Chattanooga Times Free Press, National Public Radio, The Omaha World-Herald, Pacifica Radio, Politics
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