House Speaker Paul Ryan is vowing an Obamacare rollback vote will be one of the first things lawmakers tackle in 2016.
Ryan's New Year's resolution would set up a veto battle just before the final State of the Union address from President Barack Obama, who has made the healthcare law his signature achievement while in the White House.
"When we return in January, the House will put an Obamacare repeal bill on the floor and pass it and put it on the president's desk," Ryan said Thursday,
The Hill reports.
"We are going to keep working to give families relief from this law while we work to dismantle and replace it altogether."
The legislation
has already passed the Senate.
The Associated Press, citing unnamed congressional aides, reports the vote will come Jan. 6; after an expected veto by by Obama, a vote to override would follow Jan. 26.
The Hill notes the bill was hammered out by GOP chairmen in both chambers to repeal as much of the healthcare law as possible through a budget process known as reconciliation, and that unlike other legislation, a reconciliation bill can be passed with just 51 votes in the Senate.
The bill would also defund Planned Parenthood, which has been a top issue with anti-abortion advocates, and which was not included in the government spending bill; Ryan said the reconciliation process was the only way to get it done.
"It's the vehicle we chose long ago," he said, The Hill reports. "We knew we couldn't get it to the Senate any other way."
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