Bay Area Democrats Say Fight Against GOP Health Care Bill Not Over
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The Democratic leaders from California on Thursday were recognizing the defeat of Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare as a win for their party.
But legislators also encouraged their constituents and colleagues not to let up in the fight.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi spoke Friday morning and admitted that the Affordable Care Act has its flaws.
"Right now we go forward recognizing the value of the Affordable Care Act, which once again was protected, and we take great pride in that," said Pelosi. "But we also know that there are updates and improvements that we can make."
In a statement, Senator Kamala Harris said the message sent by the American people was vindicated.
"The fight for quality, affordable health was never simply a partisan squabble," Harris said in a statement. "This has been a battle over the values of our nation and tonight demonstrates again that we should be a country where health care is a right for all, not a privilege for the few."
South Bay Democratic representative Ro Khanna released a statement Friday morning that read in part, "A disastrous bill to take away health care from millions of hard working people and raise the costs for nearly everyone has been defeated. This is another powerful example of democracy at work. And thank you to all who shared their stories."
On the other side of the aisle, chairman of the San Francisco GOP Jason Clark spoke to KPIX 5 via telephone.
"It's very clear that the challenges Obamacare has placed upon our healthcare system have proven very difficult to unravel," said Clark.
He also noted the disagreement on how to replace or repeal Obamacare shows just how complex the issues are and that the "one size fits all" approach of Obamacare was inappropriate.
