After a historic health-care vote, Johnson County party leaders are split on the bill that the U.S. House of Representatives sent to President Obama’s desk late Sunday night.
Dennis Roseman, the chairman of the Johnson County Democrats, said he’s happy with the version, a Senate bill that garnered 220 yea votes in the House.
“It’s a long time coming,” said Roseman. “There’s enough things in there for anyone to like and things in there for people not to like.”
The House needed at least 216 votes in favor of the bill for it to pass. All Republicans voted against the legislation. The Senate passed the same bill, which will provide health-care coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, several months ago.
All three of Iowa’s Democratic Representatives — Bruce Braley, Leonard Boswell, and Dave Loebsack — voted in favor of the bill. Republicans Steve King and Tom Latham voted against it.
Johnson County residents appeared to be just as divided on the legislation.
Bob Anderson, the head of the Johnson County Republicans, said he was disappointed with the passage, noting a lack of bipartisan support for the current health-care bill was a shortcoming.
“I believe that there are reforms that everyone could have agreed to,” he said, citing insurance coverage and tort reform as examples. But the bill was weighted down with too many provisions and too much government involvement, he contended.
“This whole agenda stepped into being one of greater government control over the whole health system,” Anderson said.
Some are already eyeing Sunday night’s possible political ramifications come November.
Tom Fiegen, a Democratic challenger vying for Grassley’s senate seat, said Loebsack and Braley are on the right track in their support of the health-care bill. Rob Gettemy, a Republican running against Loebsack, said he’s an opponent of the bill.
“This bill ends the worst insurance-industry practices and takes steps toward giving Iowans with insurance, as well as those without insurance, a peace of mind that comes with having stable, quality health care,” Loebsack said in a statement Sunday.
Dane Hudson, a co-head of the UI Democrats, said he was pleased, and not surprised, by the outcome.
“Going into the debate today, the only thing we were still uncertain about was the margin we would win by,” Hudson said.
United States Student Association President Gregory Cendana agreed.
“The legislation makes great strides to ensure that students can depend on federal financial aid programs as they work towards their goal of achieving a higher education,” he said in a release.
But Nic Pottebaum, a UI Student Government freshman senator, said he was not optimistic about the bill’s passage.
“Larger parts of the health-care package are quite concerning,” he said.
Obama has not said when he plans to sign the bill.