CONGRESS | East Bay Reps. Eric Swalwell, Barbara Lee and Mike Honda all voted against legislation sponsored by House Republicans allowing people to renew their cancelled health insurance plans. The bill passed 261-157, with 39 Democrats defying the President’s veto warning, including local Reps. Jerry McNerney and John Garamendi.

The Greater East Bay House delegation, however, did not support the bill Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said would effectively “pull the plug” on the Affordable Care Act. The plan led by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) goes further than the proposed “fix’ offered Thursday by President Obama allowing Americans to keep their current existing plans for another year. The House bill, however, also allows insurance companies to continue selling new plans outside federal and state health insurance exchanges.

During an appearance Thursday on KGO’s Ronn Owens Show, Swalwell said, “People are angry for good reason. I’m angry.” He noted Covered California, the state’s own health insurance exchanges is working well. However, it is the federal government Web site, he said, that continues to vex customers and misinform some members of his own district who have confused the national media outcry with California’s well-run site. “You can’t fix a broken system,” he said, “with a broken Web site and a broken promise.”