Arizona's moderate Democratic Representatives - Reps. Ron Barber (CD2), Ann Kirkpatrick (CD1) and Kyrsten Sinema (CD9) - were among a small number of Democrats who voted with Republicans to pass measures today delaying the employer and individual mandates that are part of the Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) healthcare insurance law.
Though today's votes will have no impact because the Senate is highly unlikely to take up the bills, they drew veto threats from the Obama Administration, and were designed by Republicans to put Democrats on the record for next year's campaigns. The bills passed by votes of 264-161 and 251-174, respectively.
Barber explained his votes in a news release: “Today I voted with a bipartisan majority of the House to give hard-working middle-class families and Southern Arizona’s small businesses needed time and flexibility to make sure the health care law works for them,” Barber said. “I have said from day one that I am committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the critical benefits under the law, like closing the doughnut hole for seniors, allowing students to stay on their parents health insurance until age 26 and prevent people with pre-existing conditions from being denied healthcare and fixing the parts that don’t.”
Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-CD3) and Ed Pastor (D-CD7) were thus the only two Arizonans to vote against the bills. Both represent districts with solid Democratic pluralities; the other Democrats represent more evenly-divided districts and have been targeted by Republican organizations for defeat next year.
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