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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
Peter Walker

Joe Biden: Former Vice President returns to politics by protesting for Obamacare on US Capitol steps

Former Vice President Joe Biden will make his first public appearance since leaving the White House at a protest against the dismantling of ‘Obamacare’. 

The veteran politician will joins fellow Democrats on the front steps of the Capitol Building in Washington to demonstrate against Republicans moves to replace the Affordable Care Act.

The 74-year-old, who continues to campaign on cancer care, has been largely under the radar after Donald Trump's presidential inauguration.

The former Delaware senator expected to be joining the protest, alongside another senior Democrat, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

The event is being billed as a celebration marking the seventh anniversary of the act which was signed into law on 23 March, 2013.

House Republican leaders meanwhile have scheduled a vote on their Obamacare repeal bill for the 23 March this year.

A total 216 votes are needed to pass the bill.

A recent Congressional Budget Office estimate predicted that the new bill will save $337 billion (£227 billion) over a decade, but that 24 million more Americans will lose healthcare coverage, 14 million of them in the first year alone.

Ms Pelosi, who has coined the GOP’s replacement “TrumpCare”, told CBS' Face the Nation: “What Republicans have put forth is a terrible bill — 24 million people kicked off of health insurance which the Speaker calls ‘an act of mercy’.”

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