Thirty-seventh time's a charm? Not quite, at least not for Republicans in the House who want the 2010 Democratic health care law off the books. The House voted Thursday to repeal the Affordable Care Act, this time using the IRS scandal to bolster their charges and saying the much-criticized agency will be involved in administering the law's insurance coverage requirements. The House voted mostly along party lines, with two red-state Democrats voting with the GOP for a 229 to 195 vote. That marked the 37th time the House has voted to repeal all or part of the law, though such a repeal stands no chance of passing the Senate. Michigan House Democrat Sander Levin called repeal "a Republican obsession," and indeed the law remains highly unpopular on the right, despite the Supreme Court's decision upholding the constitutionality of the law last year. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that repealing the law would boost budget deficits by $109 billion over the next decade.
