Those watching the vote on the health care bill Thursday heard a chorus from a 1960’s song bubble up as the measure received the 216 votes needed for passage.
As the vote was ending and the final tally – 217-213 – was recorded, a chorus of the band Steam’s “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” was heard not from the gallery of the House Chamber, but from its floor.
The song, which House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, (D-California), said was an “organic” expression of feelings, sprang from the Democratic side of the aisle. The song, several representatives said, was a knock on Republicans meant to deliver the message that a vote for the health care bill means constituents will vote you out of office.
Here’s what other media outlets have to say about “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.” (And here’s the song)
Health Care Vote Could Threaten Republican House Majority
“As soon as the House approved the GOP health care bill on Thursday, Democrats were working on using it against Republicans in next year's midterm elections. "They have this vote tattooed on them. This is a scar they carry," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi declared just after the American Health Care Act passed the House.
Just to rub it in, many Democrats on the House floor began singing "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" to their colleagues across the aisle after the vote, a moment of schadenfreude as they hope for the same fate many of their own suffered after the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was passed in 2010.
Democrats need to flip 24 seats to win back the House in 2018, and the congressional vote to repeal and replace Obamacare may well have made that a much easier task. Some of the most vulnerable House Republicans voted in favor of the GOP health care plan on Thursday. No Democrats voted for it, while 20 Republicans opposed it, and it only eked by with 217 yay votes — one more than it needed to pass.”
Stop singing, Democrats. The health-care vote isn’t good for you, or anyone else.
“The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the atrocious American Health Care Act. Yet some Democrats are cheering — singing! — because the vote put individual Republican lawmakers on record favoring a lousy, unpopular bill, and the Senate is likely to block it. This is the wrong reaction. No one should cheer when nonsense wins. And no one should underestimate the damage that passing this bill merely through one chamber of Congress will do to the existing health-care system.
The bill is bad in both obvious and subtle ways. Its passage was premised on the claim that it would protect people with preexisting conditions, even though states could allow insurers to price sick people out of the market. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said on Thursday that states would have to meet "stringent conditions" before they could rip up Obamacare's protections. But experts who have gone through the bill's language have found the requirements to be minimal."
Democrats Sing 'Goodbye' to Republicans as GOP Health Care Bill Passes
"Democrats taunted their Republican colleagues with waves and a song as the GOP health care plan passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democratic lawmakers on Thursday sang "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" and waved goodbye at Republicans across the chamber, seeming to imply that plenty of their colleagues had jeopardized their seats in the 2018 midterm elections by passing the proposal to gut President Barack Obama's health care law.”
31 seconds of the healthcare vote that shows why people hate politics
When House Republicans secured their 216th "yes" on the American Health Care Act Thursday, Democrats immediately began taunting their across-the-aisle rivals.
"Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye," Democrats sang at Republicans. A few Democrats even waved goodbye.
The implication was obvious: Democrats believed many Republicans had just cost themselves their political careers by voting for an overhaul of Obamacare.
And the DC political class wonders why people hate them.
Democrats Taunt GOP After Obamacare Repeal Vote By Singing ‘Goodbye’
"WASHINGTON ― House Democrats taunted Republicans on Thursday by bursting into song after the GOP plan to repeal and replace passed.
“Na, na, na, na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye,” dozens of Democratic members sang on the floor as the legislation cleared the required 216 vote threshold.
Democrats have argued that a vote for the bill ― one that guts funding for states to help people with pre-existing conditions pay for health insurance ― will haunt Republicans in the future and possibly even help oust them from the majority in the 2018 midterm elections.”
Democrats Taunt House Republicans Who Voted Against Obamacare Singing 'Hey, Hey, Goodbye': Watch
“Democrats waved and sang, "nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye," to their GOP colleagues when the American Health Care Act passed the House of Representatives on May 4, 2017.
On Thursday (May 4), the American Health Care Act officially passed on the House floor -- setting the mood in the room for Democrats who began singing the classic rock song “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” by Steam to mock their Republican counterparts that passed the Obamacare replacement.
As voting for the health care bill wrapped up, many Democrats banded together and were heard chanting, “Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye!” along with waving their hands to those who voted for the bill.”
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