Full repeal seems unlikely

The last time we checked in on this promise, we noted that the U.S. House of Representatives had succeeded in passing a repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The measure passed largely along partisan lines, with three Democrats crossing the aisle on a 245 to 189 vote.

On Feb. 2, 2011, the Senate voted on an amendment proposed by Republican minority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell to repeal the health care law. That  failed on 47-51 vote along party lines.

Greta Van Susteren of Fox News interviewed McConnell shortly after the vote, asking his reaction.

"First, we promised the American people we would try to repeal it,” McConnell said. "The House passed the repeal. We came up short. It was a party line vote with every Republican voting to repeal. Now we go after it piece by piece. There are bills introduced to eliminate the mandate, the individual mandate. We know that's in court as well. There are bills giving states the option to pull out. So, we'll be offering other amendments as we move along to try to dismantle this.”

We should note that on Jan.26,  Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., introduced a stand-alone bill in the Senate,  to repeal the law. All 47 Republican senators signed on as co-sponsors, but it has not received any action since its introduction.

It's clear from the Senate vote on McConnell"s amendment that Republicans likely will not achieve a straightforward full repeal of the health care law. But McConnell"s remarks indicate the Republicans aren"t done trying. So for now we rate this promise Stalled.