SAVANNAH — In the past three years, Rep. John Barrow has outraged fellow Democrats with his vote against President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and been attacked by Republicans for refusing to support a full repeal. And the deep South’s last white Democratic congressman is still defying both parties with his stance on the law.
Before Congress adjourned Aug. 2, Barrow was among just four Democrats who sided with House Republicans voting to gut a key part of the Affordable Care Act that puts the Internal Revenue Service in charge of enforcing certain mandates. But the Augusta Democrat says he won’t be joining GOP lawmakers pushing to deny funding for the health care law or shut down the government when Congress reconvenes after Labor Day.
“It’s a question of defunding the whole government in an attempt to get the other side to cry uncle and agree to defund Obamacare,” Barrow said in an interview with The Associated Press last week. “And I think that is a reckless game that will not succeed.”
Barrow represents the Republican-leaning 12th District in eastern Georgia that still has a significant number of black voters who are critical to the district’s Democratic base. So the Obama health law has been a thorny issue for the congressman since its passage in 2010, when Barrow’s vote against the measure caused some Georgia Democratic officials to condemn him and helped fuel an unsuccessful primary challenge to his re-election.
Barrow insists, as he did then, that problems with the law, which are burdensome for uninsured individuals and small businesses, can be fixed without scrapping the entire thing. Critics say Barrow is trying to straddle the fence in a way that lets him appeal to voters on both sides of the issue.
“He very cleverly continues to vote against repeal while voting to repeal parts of it,” said John Stone, a former congressional aide who’s one of two Republican candidates who have launched campaigns for Barrow’s seat in 2014. “He can sort of go both ways on this while he talks to people.”
via The Marietta Daily Journal – U S Rep Barrow Shutdown over health care law reckless.
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