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WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans don't have enough votes to override President Barack Obama's veto of legislation repealing his health care law -- but they've scheduled a repeal vote in the House for January 26th.
House Speaker Paul Ryan says Republicans will take the process "all the way to the end under the Constitution."
Republican lawmakers have pushed through a number of repeal measures, but this one is the first to reach Obama's desk. They've argued that the law is costly and doesn't work.
But in his veto message to Congress today, Obama disagreed. He said the Affordable Care Act includes fairer rules and stronger consumer protections "that have made health care coverage more affordable, more attainable and more patient-centered." And, he added, "it is working."
Ryan, though, says it's only "a matter of time" before the law is finally overturned. He says Republicans have shown that "there is a clear path" to repealing it, even without 60 Senate votes. And he says if a Republican wins the White House in November, the next repeal measure will be signed.
The bill that was vetoed today would also cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
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198-a-10-(House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., in video statement released by his office)-"will be repealed"-House Speaker Paul Ryan says one way or another, Obamacare is going. (8 Jan 2016)
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196-c-19-(Mark Smith, AP White House correspondent)-"it is working"-AP White House Correspondent Mark Smith reports President Obama used his veto pen without fanfare. (8 Jan 2016)
<<CUT *196 (01/08/16)££ 00:19 "it is working"
APPHOTO WX105: FILE - In this March 23, 2010 file photo President Barack Obama signs the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Protecting his signature domestic achievement, President Barack Obama vetoed legislation to repeal his health care law, saying to do so "would reverse the significant progress we have made in improving health care in America." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) (23 Mar 2010)
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APPHOTO DCSA119: Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., left, laughs with Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., center right, just after Ryan signed H.R. 3762, the "Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015" which is designed to eliminate key parts of President Barack Obama's health care law and to stop taxpayer funds from going to Planned Parenthood, during a ceremony in the House Rayburn Room at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. Standing between Ryan and Scalise is Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo. Earlier, Ryan said that he did not expect President Obama to sign the measure which would gut his signature health care law. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (7 Jan 2016)
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