Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Both Jewish Republicans Back Trump On Obamacare Repeal In House

Both Jewish Republicans voted for the American Health Care Act, the controversial bill that will repeal elements of Obamacare, as it passed the House of Representatives by a margin of 217-213.

Democrats voted unanimously against the bill, along with 20 Republicans who broke with their party.

Republicans Lee Zeldin (N.Y.) and David Kustoff (Tenn.) voted in favor of the measure, while Jewish Democrats maintained their party’s unanimity.

Among the notable Republicans to vote “no” was Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who represents a Miami-area district with a large Jewish population. Ros-Lehtinen is retiring in 2018.

After the final vote tally was announced, Democrats in the House chamber started singing the song “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye,” believing that voting to pass the bill spelled electoral doom for many Republicans.

After concluding another vote on North Korean sanctions, Republicans were scheduled to attend a celebratory reception at the White House.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter at @aidenpink.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.