The Poynter Institute Menu Donate State Editions * California * Florida * Iowa * Michigan * New Hampshire * New York * North Carolina * Pennsylvania * Texas * West Virginia * Wisconsin Issues * All Issues * Online hoaxes * Coronavirus * Health Care * Immigration * Extremism * Taxes * Marijuana * Environment * Crime * Guns * Foreign Policy * LGBTQ+ People * Joe Biden * Kamala Harris * Donald Trump * Mitch McConnell * Hakeem Jeffries * Ron DeSantis Media * PunditFact * Tucker Carlson * Sean Hannity * Rachel Maddow * Bloggers * PolitiFact Videos Campaigns * 2024 Elections Truth-o-Meter * True * Mostly True * Half True * Mostly False * False * Pants on Fire Promises * Biden Promise Tracker * Trump-O-Meter * Obameter * Latest Promises About Us * Our Process * Our Staff * En Español * Who pays for PolitiFact? * Advertise with Us * Suggest a Fact-check * Corrections and Updates * Newsletters Donate #### Follow us The Facts Newsletter Sign up English Español ### Stand up for the facts! Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Luis Gutierrez stated on March 12, 2017 in CNN\'s State of the Union: \"2009-2010, let\'s remember, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted in the ACA.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" half-true/6479cbc723379f0ee49c269b0b9790b7.jpg.\\") ![\\"half- true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") * National * Bipartisanship * Congress * Health Care * Luis Gutierrez By Gabrielle Healy March 16, 2017 # Gutierrez says \'hundreds of Republican amendments\' were a part of Obamacare Republicans continue to sell their health care plan in an effort to deliver on a party-wide campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. Yet during a roundtable discussion on State of the Union, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., pushed back on charges of Democratic obstructionism regarding health care legislation. Anchor Jake Tapper asked if Gutierrez was involved, or if Democrats were \"just sitting by the sidelines opposing everything.\" \"Very different process,\" Gutierrez replied. \"2009-2010, let\'s remember, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted in the ACA.\" We decided to look into Gutierrez’s claim that the final version of the Affordable Care Act incorporated hundreds of Republican amendments. When the ACA was making its way through Congress, former President Barack Obama made a similar statement in September 2009. During a joint address to Congress, he said that his plan incorporated the ideas of both Republicans and Democrats. We rated that claim Mostly False, because many of the amendments Republicans introduced were technical in nature. Republicans had several opportunities to introduce amendments to the Affordable Care Act, in both the Senate and House bills. Ultimately, for procedural reasons tied to the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., the Senate version was the only one that moved forward. But Republicans offered changes in the committees that considered the bills before the whole chambers voted on them. For example, 788 amendments were submitted during the ACA’s markup in the Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee (HELP). Three quarters of them were filed by the committee’s Republican members, according to John McDonough in his book Inside National Health Reform. Of those, 161 were adopted in whole or revised form. Yet as we reported at the time, those amendments were mostly technical. Only two of those Republican amendments were passed via roll-call vote. One of these amendments required members of Congress and congressional staff to enroll in the government-run option and the other involved biologics medication. The Senate Finance Committee took up another version of the bill. Senators initially offered 564 amendments. During that markup, about six Republican amendments were adopted via roll call vote, and others were adopted by unanimous consent, without objection, and via voice vote, according to coverage by Congressional Quarterly. Parts of this bill merged with the bill the HELP committee marked up to become the final law. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on September 11, 2024 in an Instagram post \"Debate moderators made the false claim to Donald Trump that there is nowhere in the United States where abortion is legal up until birth.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Jeff Cercone • September 13, 2024 Gutierrez’s office pointed us toward a fact sheet from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s, D-Calif., office that said 147 Republican amendments were incorporated in the final Senate bill, though the sheet did not expand on the nature of those amendments. On the House side, some Republican amendments to the Affordable Care Act were accepted in committee; 24 Republican amendments were incorporated in the Energy and Commerce Committee, and six were incorporated in the Education and Workforce committee. Republicans sponsored 38 amendments in the Ways and Means committee, and each one was rejected. Timothy Jost, emeritus professor of law at Washington and Lee University School of Law, told us that \"the basic statement that hundreds were adopted is wrong.\" But Jost added that \"there was very significant Republican participation early on on the Senate side. There were dozens of hours of debate, and Republicans like Sen. Chuck Grassley on the Senate Finance Committee were very engaged.\" Jost said by September 2009 that period was over and from then on, the bill was strictly a Democratic piece of legislation. It’s worth noting that many facets of the Republican’s health care agenda at the time made it into the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act was a private market plan, and it dropped a long-held Democratic priority to include a public option. In the end, no Senate or House Republicans voted for the Affordable Care Act in its final version. Our ruling Gutierrez said that \"hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted\" during the drafting of the 2010 health care law. His statement has some basis, because Republican amendments were adopted in both the House and the Senate during the legislative process. Most of these amendments were not particularly meaningful, though, so calling it a bipartisan enactment effort remains a stretch. We rate this claim Half True. Share the Facts Politifact ![\\"Politifact\\"](\\" logo-big.jpg\\"/) 3 7 ![\\"Politifact](\\" facts/rating_images/politifact/tom-halftrue.jpg\\") Politifact Rating: Half True \"2009-2010, let\'s remember, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted in the ACA.\" Luis Gutierrez U.S. House member ![](\\" CNN\'s \'State of the Union\' Sunday, March 12, 2017 03/12/2017 Read More info #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Washington Post, The six Republican ideas already in the health-care reform bill, March 12, 2017 Slate, This Is What \"Bipartisanship\" Looks Like, March 12, 2017 PolitiFact, Obama says health plan incorporates the ideas of Democrats and Republicans, March 13, 2017 Salon, Fact-checking the GOP on healthcare reform, March 12, 2017 U.S Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, In Historic Vote, HELP Committee Approves the Affordable Health Choices Act, March 12, 2017 Congress.gov, H.R. 3590, March 13, 2017 Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Leader, GOP Rushes ACA Repeal Bill Without Hearings and Open Debate; By Contrast, ACA Was Enacted After An Open, Transparent Process, March 13 2017 Washington Post, House passes health-care reform bill without Republican votes, March 12, 2017 John Cannan, A Legislative History of the Affordable Care Act: How Legislative Procedure Shapes Legislative History, March 13, 2017 John McDonough, Inside National Health Reform, March 15, 2017 Congressional Quarterly, Health Overhaul Bill Emerges from Senate Committee, March 15, 2017 Congressional Quarterly, Health Care Overhaul Gets Panel’s Approval, March 15, 2017 Phone interview, Timothy Jost, emeritus professor of law Washington and Lee University, March 13, 2017 Email interview, John Cannan, research and instructional services librarian at Drexel University, March 13, 2017 Email interview, Elizabeth Rigby, associate professor of public policy and administration at George Washington University, March 13, 2017 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Gabrielle Healy slide 6 to 8 of 6 ![](\\" ![](\\" Sean Spicer stated on March 21, 2017 in a press conference: \"Global food demand is expected to increase by 50 to 97 percent by 2050.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • March 30, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Luis Gutierrez stated on March 12, 2017 in CNN\'s State of the Union: \"2009-2010, let\'s remember, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted in the ACA.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • March 16, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Nancy Pelosi stated on March 5, 2017 in an interview with CNN\'s \"State of the Union\": Says 70 percent of benefits in Donald Trump’s proposal for child care \"go to the people making over $100,000 a year.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Gabrielle Healy • March 8, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Rand Paul stated on March 2, 2017 in an interview on ABC\'s \"This Week\": \"We\'ve repealed regulations for the first time in 20 years using the Congressional Review Act -- three regulations that were going to cost the economy hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • March 2, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Bernie Sanders stated on February 5, 2017 in an interview on CNN: Says former President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominations \"required 60 votes.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • February 9, 2017 ![](\\" speier/fb8cc2f32ded9c21fc9919f30c9c16e6.jpg\\") ![](\\" speier/c5cf9c06e2aa630bf8a41603ebd80bd6.jpg\\") Jackie Speier stated on April 13, 2017 in an interview: Says President Donald Trump as a candidate mentioned WikiLeaks \"over 160 times in speeches\" in the last month of the campaign. ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • April 21, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Sean Spicer stated on March 21, 2017 in a press conference: \"Global food demand is expected to increase by 50 to 97 percent by 2050.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • March 30, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Luis Gutierrez stated on March 12, 2017 in CNN\'s State of the Union: \"2009-2010, let\'s remember, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted in the ACA.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • March 16, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Nancy Pelosi stated on March 5, 2017 in an interview with CNN\'s \"State of the Union\": Says 70 percent of benefits in Donald Trump’s proposal for child care \"go to the people making over $100,000 a year.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Gabrielle Healy • March 8, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Rand Paul stated on March 2, 2017 in an interview on ABC\'s \"This Week\": \"We\'ve repealed regulations for the first time in 20 years using the Congressional Review Act -- three regulations that were going to cost the economy hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • March 2, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Bernie Sanders stated on February 5, 2017 in an interview on CNN: Says former President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominations \"required 60 votes.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • February 9, 2017 ![](\\" speier/fb8cc2f32ded9c21fc9919f30c9c16e6.jpg\\") ![](\\" speier/c5cf9c06e2aa630bf8a41603ebd80bd6.jpg\\") Jackie Speier stated on April 13, 2017 in an interview: Says President Donald Trump as a candidate mentioned WikiLeaks \"over 160 times in speeches\" in the last month of the campaign. ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • April 21, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Sean Spicer stated on March 21, 2017 in a press conference: \"Global food demand is expected to increase by 50 to 97 percent by 2050.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • March 30, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Luis Gutierrez stated on March 12, 2017 in CNN\'s State of the Union: \"2009-2010, let\'s remember, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted in the ACA.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • March 16, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Nancy Pelosi stated on March 5, 2017 in an interview with CNN\'s \"State of the Union\": Says 70 percent of benefits in Donald Trump’s proposal for child care \"go to the people making over $100,000 a year.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Gabrielle Healy • March 8, 2017 ![](\\" ![](\\" Rand Paul stated on March 2, 2017 in an interview on ABC\'s \"This Week\": \"We\'ve repealed regulations for the first time in 20 years using the Congressional Review Act -- three regulations that were going to cost the economy hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Gabrielle Healy • March 2, 2017 ### Gutierrez says \'hundreds of Republican amendments\' were a part of Obamacare * ![](\\" ![](\\" House Majority PAC stated on September 9, 2024 in a television ad: Laurie Buckhout is “trying to get to Congress to pass a national abortion ban, allowing politicians to ban abortions with no exceptions and prosecute women if they get an abortion, treating women right here like criminals.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Paul Specht • October 1, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump Jr. stated on September 9, 2024 in a post: “Less than three months ago, Kamala Harris and her administration blocked 300,000 unvetted Haitian migrants from being deported out of our country.\" ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" X posts stated on September 30, 2024 in an X post: Photo shows President Joe Biden lounging on the beach \"while towns all over America were being wiped out” by Hurricane Helene. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Samantha Putterman • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on September 30, 2024 in in social media posts: “Biden Announces: ‘2.4 billion more to Ukraine’ but ‘no more aid for Hurricane Helene.’” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Jeff Cercone • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 24, 2024 in a post: “Olympic boxer Imane Khelif fails gender test, stripped of all titles, lifetime ban and $25 million prize money revoked!” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Grace Abels • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on September 30, 2024 in a press conference in Georgia: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was calling President Joe Biden after Hurricane Helene but \"hasn\'t been able to get him.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Caleb McCullough • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 29, 2024 in an Instagram post: “Video shows Kamala (Harris) responding to someone talking through her earrings that she allegedly wore during the Trump vs. Harris debate.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Elissa Slotkin stated on September 30, 2024 in a Meta ad: U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers “believes he should make that decision” about whether to end pregnancies. ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Caleb McCullough • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Tim Sheehy stated on September 27, 2024 in an ad: U.S. Sen. Jon Tester “voted to give taxpayer-funded health care to illegal immigrants.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Louis Jacobson • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 26, 2024 in an Instagram post: “Kamala involved in P-Diddy’s rapes and assaults.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Sofia Ahmed • September 30, 2024 Load more ### Support independent fact-checking. Become a member! In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts. Sign me up #### Offices District of Columbia 1800 I Street NW Washington, DC 20006 Florida 801 3rd St. S St. Petersburg, FL 33701 727-821-9494 #### People * Joe Biden * Kamala Harris * Donald Trump * Mitch McConnell * Hakeem Jeffries * Ron DeSantis #### State Editions * California * Florida * Iowa * Michigan * New Hampshire * New York * North Carolina * Pennsylvania * Texas * West Virginia * Wisconsin #### About Us * Our Process * Our Staff * En Español * Who pays for PolitiFact? * Advertise with Us * Corrections and Updates * Newsletters #### RSS Feeds * Recent Articles and Fact-checks * Recent Fact-checks Suggest a Fact-check #### Follow us The Facts Newsletter Sign up Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Copyright ©All Rights Reserved Poynter Institute 2020, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization ![\\"\\"](\\" ✕ * * *
20092010 let's remember hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted in the ACA