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Foxx, Pittenger say vote is for 'fiscal sanity'

By Jim McNally

Iredell County’s two U.S. House of Representatives members joined most of their fellow Republicans in voting for a short-term spending plan that includes the complete defunding of the Affordable Care Act, which is commonly known as Obamacare.

Reps. Robert Pittenger and Virginia Foxx both voted in support of House Joint Resolution 59, which enjoyed the backing of 224 other Republicans and two Democrats. Only one Republican, Rep. Scott Riggle of Virginia, broke ranks and voted against the measure, which passed the House by final tally of 230-189. Another 13 representatives did not vote and there are three empty seats in the House.

Foxx said she did not wish to see a cessation of the federal government. But such a possibility has been highly speculated as an of effect of the legislation not being passed by the Senate, which has a Democratic majority and which will almost certainly strip the resolution of its provisions related to Obamacare.

“Without question, I am focused on preventing a government shutdown,” Foxx said in a statement. She said the resolution “lays out how our government will be funded.”

Foxx said the legislation is “consistent with our conservative values,” and insures that “no taxpayer dollars should be wasted implementing the Obamacare train wreck.”

Foxx said Republicans are more in tune with work-a-day folks and they are acting with their best interests in mind.

“The American people, by and large, do not want the changes they see coming to their health care because of Obamacare,” Foxx said. “House Republicans agree and are united in firm opposition to the president’s unfair health law.”

Polls on the matter on the matter that have been taken over the years since the law was signed by President Obama confirm these statements but, perhaps, for the wrong reasons.

Approval of Obamacare is typically in the 40 percent range in any number of polls and disapproval is about 10 points higher. But a recent Wall Street Journal poll revealed that upward of 7 in 10 people can’t get their heads around the new healthcare laws and have no firm understanding of how the changes will affect them.

Nonetheless, Foxx, Pittenger and other House Republicans see the defunding plan as a step in the right direction.

“Today we had an opportunity to move our government away from shutdown and our country and economy away from Obamacare,” Foxx said. “The Senate must now do its part to pass this legislation.”

Pittenger said that, among other problems with Obamacare, it has already been responsible eliminating untold numbers of job.

“Throughout this debate, I’ve focused on two goals: defunding Obamacare, which is responsible for killing thousands of full-time jobs; and preventing the economic chaos of a government shutdown,” Pittenger said in a statement. “This legislation accomplishes both goals.”

Pittenger said the plan ends the use of Social Security benefits “as a political football” and the House’s vote to support it was “an important step toward fiscal sanity.”

Pittenger then put the challenge to those on the other side of the aisle.

“Will Senate Democrats and President Obama join us in building a brighter future for every American?”

The Senate will vote on H.J. Res. 59 on Tuesday.