As U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell pledges to voters that he’ll support repeal of the federal health care reform law, Heritage Action blogger Ashe Schow is drawing attention to Kissell’s record on the issue:
[T]o this day, he has not supported fully repealing the bill despite having multiple opportunities to do so, even as he tries to appease his conservative-leaning district by claiming he will now vote to fully repeal the law:
“‘I’ve heard from hundreds and hundreds of people from my district about their opposition to the health care law,’ Kissell told the Observer Monday. ‘I voted against it originally and I will vote to repeal it.’
But is that the whole truth?
It’s true that Rep. Kissell voted against both the motion to concur with the Senate’s amendments and the reconciliation act, the two legislative vehicles which gave us Obamacare, but he has never voted for full repeal or signaled he would vote for the full repeal…until now, an election year.
He had his first opportunity to support fully repealing the law in June 2010, when Congressman Steve King (R-IA) introduced Discharge Petition #11, which would have forced the House to vote on the full repeal of Obamacare. Even though 173 Members of Congress, including a Democrat, signed onto the petition, Rep. Kissell refused to do so.
In January, 2011, Rep. Kissell would get another opportunity to do the will of his constituents and fully repeal Obamacare. Not surprisingly, he took another pass at this time. Two-hundred and forty-five Members of the House of Representatives (including 3 Democrats) voted to fully repeal Obamacare. Rep. Kissell was not one of them.
