The House's Tantrum

-
"THE Republican-controlled US House of Representatives voted 245-189 today to repeal the health care bill signed into law by President Barack Obama last year."

Yeah.... So...? It'll never pass the Senate. Even if the repeal did pass the Senate, Obama would veto it. Neither the House, nor the Senate, let alone both of them, would be able to obtain a 2/3 majority to override such a veto. It's a purely symbolic vote. The most it says, is that if these Representatives had held power, during the last session, the health care bill wouldn't have become law. OK, that's interesting, but not very. Pffft...

Given that this repeal can never become law, they may as well come right out and call it a non-binding resolution. Just to put this in perspective, other non-binding resolutions include:

H.R.247 - To provide for the retention of the name of Mount McKinley.

H.CON.RES.214 - Recognizing the contributions of the cities of Bristol, Tennessee, and Bristol, Virginia, and their people to the origins and development of Country Music, and for other purposes.

H.CON.RES.172 - Expressing the sense of Congress in support of efforts to foster friendship and cooperation between the United States and Mongolia, and for other purposes.

H.CON.RES.417 - Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the capture of Zachary Baumel, a United States citizen serving in the Israeli Defense Forces.

H.CON.RES.151 - Expressing the sense of Congress that China release democratic activist Liu Xiaobo from imprisonment.

You get the idea. Votes, such as today's, are the congressional equivalent of picketing. They state their position, but nothing really comes of it.