Republicans pushed yet another bill through the House Wednesday to repeal the nation's 2-year-old health care law, a maneuver that forced Democrats to choose between President Obama's signature domestic achievement and a public that is persistently skeptical of its value.
The vote was 244-185, with five Democratic defectors siding with Republicans.
By Republicans' count, the vote marked the 33rd time in 18 months that the Tea Party-infused GOP majority has tried to eliminate, defund or otherwise scale back the program - opponents scornfully call it Obamacare - since the GOP took control of the House.
Repeal this year by Congress is doomed because the Democratic-controlled Senate will never agree.
There was never any doubt that Republicans had the votes to pass the repeal in the House - or that it would die in the Senate, where Democrats possessed more than enough strength to block it.
That's what happened in January 2011, when the newly installed Republican majority first voted to repeal the law a few days after taking office.
In the months since, the GOP has taken repeated further swipes at the law, including votes to deny salaries to any government officials who enforce it, to abolish a board of officials charged with holding down Medicare costs in the future and to repeal a tax on medical devices.
With the exception of a few relatively modest changes accepted by the White House, all the rest have died in the Senate.
Some Democrats sought something of a middle ground.
Rep. Ron Barber, D-Ariz., elected a few weeks ago, said the GOP-inspired repeal legislation was a charade and showed the House "cares more about political grandstanding than in getting things done."
At the same time, Barber said, "We must work to improve the legislation," a bow to those who are less than enthusiastic about it, and a point he made during his recent campaign.
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