Stephanie Murphy proposal for ACA amendment falls in Congress

Orlando’s freshman U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy took her first swings on the floor of Congress Thursday night, pushing an amendment she offered to protect one of the more popular provisions of Obamacare from repeal, but the amendment failed.

Murphy, the Winter Park Democrat, introduced a proposed amendment that would have shielded a rule that allows young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance policies until through the age of 26. The amendment was offered for House Resolution 26, known as the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2017.

The amendment was defeated, but Murphy got her first stand in the limelight, and received some applause from fellow Democrats after introducing her amendment.

“The Affordable Care Act is not perfect. But I believe the responsible and moral course of action for this body is to strengthen the law, not repeal it,” she said.

“Just as in business, when your business plan runs into challenges, you make left and right adjustments along the way and keep moving forward toward your goals,” she added. “Health care is too central to the lives of our constituents to be rebooted every few years in a partisan, haphazard manner.”

Murphy’s was one of several swings that Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa, took Thursday at trying to amend the Republican-led federal rules bill seen as a first step toward repeal of the Affordable Care Act. The rules bill was adopted late last night in a strongly partisan vote. 237 to 187.