Repealing health care

Health Care

CHART OF THE DAY: Repealing ObamaCare Would Be Disastrous For The Budget

Brian Beutler | October 24, 2011, 2:37PM

President Barack Obama

The Government Accountability Office has updated its fiscal outlook for the U.S. government and come to some familiar conclusions. The country has a long term imbalance that will have to be addressed, but not until today's economic woes have passed. If Congress simply does nothing -- and allows the Bush tax cuts, and other temporary laws to expire -- the country's fiscal health will improve significantly over the long term.

TPM SLIDESHOW: Meeting and Greeting - Fall At The White House

But the report implies something that's been lost in the recent partisan debate over the country's future: repealing ObamaCare would consign us to swift, ugly fiscal and health care crises.

The health care reform law will extend subsidized private health insurance to millions of Americans, paid for with new taxes and Medicare savings. But it also included numerous demonstration projects and reforms intended to rein in the growth of health care costs, and thus Medicare spending. Some of them have great promise -- if they can survive.

Health Care

Luck Of The Draw? Dem-Friendly Panel To Hear Health Care Lawsuit Challenges

Brian Beutler | May 10, 2011, 10:57AM

President Barack Obama

The Obama administration has lucked out in Virginia. A three-judge panel of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will hear arguments Tuesday morning from plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of the health care reform law Congress passed law last year. And all three of those judges -- selected randomly by computer -- were appointed by Democratic Presidents.

The political composition of the panel is crucial -- thus far, in lower court rulings, judges appointed by Democrats have all upheld the law while Republican-appointed judges have stricken parts, or all of the law on constitutional grounds.

This was by no means a likely outcome. Though the conservative-leaning court has become more liberal since Obama took office, the odds of drawing an all-Dem panel are still quite low -- about 20 percent.

John Boehner

Boehner: Republicans Voted To Turn Medicare Into Obamacare

Brian Beutler | April 26, 2011, 3:17PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

Another top Republican has admitted what few members of his own party will admit. In fact, it's the toppest-Republican.

According to Speaker John Boehner, the House Republican budget, which passed on April 15, "transforms Medicare into a plan that's very similar to the President's own healthcare bill."

That's from an interview with ABC's Jon Karl. Boehner joins Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) as one of the few high-profile elected Republicans who will admit that the GOP's Medicare privatization plan is similar in many key respects to the health care law they have spent the last two years demonizing.

Barack Obama

Obama To Boehner In Budget Talks: 'You Think We're Stupid?'

Benjy Sarlin | April 15, 2011, 10:49AM

President Obama speaks at a bipartisan White House gathering with Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) in the background.

As House Republican leaders struggle to sell their spending agreement, President Obama is privately crowing to supporters that he stood up the GOP on health care and won big time.

Republicans have made defunding Democrats' health care law a top priority, but at a closed-to-the-press fundraiser Obama candidly described to donors how he defeated their attempts. Perhaps not realizing his mic was on, Obama's private remarks were caught by CBS correspondent Mark Knoller, who was able to listen to through a live audio feed.

"I said, 'You want to repeal health care? Go at it. We'll have that debate," Obama said, describing his negotiations with Speaker John Boehner. "You're not going to be able to do that by nickel-and-diming me in the budget. You think we're stupid?'"

According to CBS, Obama quoted himself as telling Boehner to "Put it in a separate bill," adding that "if you think you can overturn my veto, try it. But don't try to sneak this through."

Watch the CBS report below.

Health Care

The Real Death Panel: If 'Obamacare' Repealed, Some Patients Can't Go Back

Brian Beutler | March 24, 2011, 3:00PM

If the health care reform law were to disappear tomorrow, Dallas Wiens would be in trouble.

Earlier this week, in a 15-hour procedure, Boston surgeons grafted a donor's face onto Wiens' skull. Weins is a 25-year-old boom lift operator from Texas who came into contact with a live electrical wire, costing him his lips, nose, and eyes and leaving him severely disfigured.

The Department of Defense covered the cost of the surgery through a grant to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where the surgery was performed -- an investment the military hopes will pay off in new surgical techniques that will benefit wounded soldiers. But all the Pentagon's largesse would have been for naught without the new health care law.

Health Care

FreedomWorks Gives Health Care Repeal Pointers To House GOP

Brian Beutler | February 16, 2011, 1:22PM

Dick Armey, FreedomWorks chairman

In a sign that the public is tiring of GOP efforts to repeal the health care law, the Tea Party-aligned group FreedomWorks is pressing Republican leaders to go on the offense -- double down on the repeal push while advocating conservative health care policies.

In a memo to House Republicans, the leaders of FreedomWorks, including former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, suggest that the public is souring on repeal because the GOP lacks a coherent set of reforms with which to "replace" the health care law.

"We're sending this memo because we believe your ultimate success depends as much on how you handle the "replace" as the "repeal" side of the strategy. We think it's time to start emphasizing what you're for as much as what you're against," the memo reads.

Health Care

Tea Party Patriots Team Up With Steve King On Last Ditch Effort To Destroy 'ObamaCare'

Brian Beutler | February 14, 2011, 1:50PM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

The Tea Party Patriots are backing up Iowa Republican Steve King in a last-ditch effort to sink "ObamaCare" before the end of winter. But they're running out of options.

King wants his party to be bold, and attach a measure hacking $100 billion out of the health care law to legislation that will fund the government from March 4 through the end of September. He knows the Democratic Senate and the White House won't let that fly -- but for him larger principles are at stake here, and if the government shuts down because of this fight, so be it.

Health Care

Steve King: Let's Kill The Government If Obama Won't Kill Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler and Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 11, 2011, 8:00AM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

Here's how the Republicans' power over the purse could lead to an insoluble fight over spending, and, potentially, a government shutdown.

In a presentation at CPAC on Thursday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) called on Republicans to hold the government hostage until President Obama abandons his dream of reforming the nation's health care system.

Or to put it in King's words: Republicans should do to "ObamaCare" what Democrats did to the Vietnam War.

Barack Obama

Do Republicans Want To Repeal The Obama Presidency?

Brian Beutler | February 10, 2011, 10:17AM

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)

We all know that the Republican party wants to repeal the health care law. And the financial reform law. And roll back spending to the levels they were at during the Bush administration. And tie Obama's hands so he can't issue new regulations, or has to undo old ones.

When you add it all up, what you get is a huge chunk of the entire Obama presidency that Republicans apparently simply want to erase. The Obama administration has done more than just the above, but, if you eliminate those things, suddenly his first two years look pretty unremarkable.

Karl Rove

Rove Backs Reconciliation For Health Care Repeal

Brian Beutler | February 10, 2011, 9:00AM

Karl Rove

Look who's suddenly all for passing things in the Senate with 51 votes.

In a new column entitled "Democrats can't filibuster ObamaCare repeal," Karl Rove argues that Republicans can use the budget reconciliation process to repeal the health care law with 51 votes. That's the filibuster-proof process that allowed Democrats to tweak revenue and spending measures in the greater health care law, which Republicans at the time compared to Chicago-mob style politics.

On March 1, 2010 Rove himself called that "changing rules midstream."

Abortion

GOP Backs Massive Tax Increase To Phase Out Abortion Coverage By Private Insurers

Brian Beutler | February 9, 2011, 8:35AM

Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and John Boehner (R-OH)

The House GOP continues to place its heaviest emphasis on fighting abortion rights, and they've taken a lot of heat for it. Progressives, Democrats, pro-choice groups, and others have spared little criticism, but they've focused most heavily on three distinct lines: the fact that Republicans are ignoring job-creation as a priority; the fact that one of their pieces of legislation would allow hospitals to refuse to perform an abortion on a dying woman; and the fact that, until recently at least, the GOP wanted to limit tax-payer support for abortion to exclude incidences of non-forcible rape.

Here's another one: The GOP's plan to ban tax-payer money from funding abortions includes giant tax hikes for businesses.

More specifically, it would eliminate tax incentives on employer-provided health care benefits if those benefits cover abortion as a medical procedure.

Health Care

Progressives Target Republicans Over Health Care Vote

Brian Beutler | February 8, 2011, 9:26AM

Paul Ryan

Progressive groups are again targeting Republicans in competitive districts for voting to repeal health care reform while accepting federally financed insurance.

Americans United for Change, Daily Kos, and Blue America have aligned to run radio ads in the districts of Reps. Charlie Bass (R-NH), Paul Ryan (R-WI), Sandy Adams (R-FL), and Leonard Lance (R-NJ).

Ben Nelson

Nelson Rejects Backdoor GOP Plan To Kill Health Law

Brian Beutler | February 3, 2011, 9:10AM

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).

Democrats are holding together to close backdoor efforts to kill the health care law better than the GOP would like.

They would prefer that vulnerable Democrats to join them in support of a new measure that would allow states to opt out of key provisions of the law -- a plan designed to weaken and kill it.

But at least one of those Democrats isn't biting.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) says he likes pieces of that measure -- in particular allowing states to opt out of the law's call for a Medicaid expansion. But he can't support it overall.

Health Care

Effort To Repeal Health Care Law Fails In Senate

Brian Beutler | February 2, 2011, 6:26PM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

An effort spearheaded by Republicans to repeal the new health care law collapsed Wednesday evening after the Senate refused to ignore its adverse impact on the deficit.

By a vote of 47-51, the Senate sustained an objection to the legislation on the grounds that it does not comply with congressional budget rules. Because a full repeal of the law is projected to increase the deficit, waiving that point of order would have required 60 votes.

Health Care

Republicans Hide Health Care Law Benefits From Their Constituents

Brian Beutler | February 2, 2011, 10:22AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Two days after a Republican Florida federal court judge voided the entire health care law, the multi-front Republican war against it continues in the Senate, where members will vote today on whether or not to just repeal it, full stop.

Simultaneously, Republican members are trying to sneak grenades into the heart of the law, crafting modifications which they admit are meant to destroy it.

But that presents them with a conundrum when they head back to their states and districts and face constituents who stand to benefit from the law right now -- seniors who are entitled to free checkups, and young adults, who can now stay on their parents' insurance until they turn 26, for example. Republicans can chose to help those constituents navigate the law -- answer their questions constructively, encourage them to seek those benefits -- or they can let their political agendas interfere.

Different strokes for different folks.

Health Care

Reid: Health Care Repeal Vote Imminent

Brian Beutler | February 1, 2011, 3:22PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL)

The Senate could vote on health care repeal as early as today.

On Tuesday Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced a repeal measure as an amendment to a pending FAA bill, and Democratic leaders have decided to allow it to go forward. However, they won't, at this time, force Republicans to vote to repeal key, popular parts of the legislation.

"We want to get this out of their system quickly," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at a press conference with his top deputies Tuesday afternoon, who said the vote could come up "sometime today," depending on how long the floor debate drags on. Aides suggest the vote's more likely to come Wednesday.

Lindsey Graham

GOP Sens Admit: Goal Of Changing Health Care Law Is To Kill It

Brian Beutler | February 1, 2011, 3:14PM

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

We've reached a point in the health care fight where Republicans aren't even pretending that their efforts to tweak the bill aren't also intended to destroy it.

Case in point: A new GOP plan to allow states to opt out of the key provisions of the law is intended to undermine it and cause it to fail, its supporters admit.

"If you took half the states out of the individual mandate requirement, this bill falls, requiring us to draft something new, and quite frankly that is the goal," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. "To find a way to get the Congress to redo this bill.... We want this bill to come to an end."

Points for honesty.

Health Care

Heavy Hitters Rip Florida Federal Judge's Opinion Striking Health Care Law

Brian Beutler | January 31, 2011, 5:35PM

President Barack Obama

Legal experts who support President Obama's health care law spoke to reporters Monday afternoon to criticize a far-reaching opinion by Florida federal district court judge Roger Vinson that the individual insurance mandate is unconstitutional -- and that the entire law must therefore be voided.

"This is a decision that has such radical implications that I'm confident it will be overturned," said former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger.

In addition to declaring the mandate unconstitutional, Vinson declined to "sever" it from the rest of the law, and instead held that the entire law out should be thrown out. That goes far beyond standard practice, under which courts tend to defer to Congress and sever only the provisions of law that they find unconstitutional -- even if Congress didn't include a "severability clause" in the legislation.

Health Care

Florida Judge Voids Entire Health Care Law

Brian Beutler | January 31, 2011, 3:00PM

President Barack Obama

A federal district court judge in Florida ruled today that a key provision in the new health care law is unconstitutional, and that the entire law must be voided.

Roger Vinson, a Ronald Reagan appointee, agreed with the 26 state-government plaintiffs that Congress exceeded its authority by passing a law penalizing individuals who do not have health insurance.

"I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the Act with the individual mandate," Vinson writes. "Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void."

[Emphasis added]

Mitch McConnell

Senate Republicans Escalate Health Care Repeal Efforts

Brian Beutler | January 26, 2011, 1:56PM

Jim DeMint

There are now multiple fronts to Republican health care repeal efforts in the Senate.

The first began quietly Tuesday night, when Minority Leader Mitch McConnell used a procedural prerogative to bypass the committee process and usher the House-passed repeal bill on to the Senate calendar.

Wednesday morning, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), spearheaded a separate effort by introducing a separate repeal bill of his own, along with 34 cosponsors.

Health Care

Nelson: GOP Should Offer Alternatives To Health Care Repeal

Brian Beutler | January 25, 2011, 1:59PM

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)

If Republicans pursue their health care repeal strategy, the Senate is set to become a political battlefield, with each side tossing grenades across the line at the other. Democrats say they'll force votes on the popular parts of the health care law, pressing the GOP to oppose them individually. In return, Republicans vow to also break the law down and force votes on the taxes and mandates that make it unpopular.

Will anybody blink? Generally Republicans are better than Democrats at sticking together on politically uncomfortable messaging votes. But this afternoon, on his way into a weekly caucus policy lunch, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who often votes with Republicans, dismissed the GOP's push to simply repeal the unpopular stuff.

Health Care

In Letter To Cantor, Schumer, Menendez Demand Answer To Key Repeal Question

Brian Beutler | January 24, 2011, 8:30AM

Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

As promised, Senate Democrats aren't going to take the GOP's health care repeal push lying down.

In a letter delivered to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Sunday, Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) demand an answer to a question now at the center of the Republican party's top legislative priority: Will repealing the health care law force seniors to reimburse the government for the $250 check they received in 2010 to help them pay for prescription drugs?

"We are particularly concerned that repeal would reverse the course of making prescription drugs more affordable for seniors," Schumer and Menendez write. "The [repeal] legislation approved by the House could require seniors to repay the government."

Health Care

Senate Dems Plot Aggressive Strategy To Fight Health Care Repeal

Brian Beutler | January 21, 2011, 9:17AM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) with Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Senate Democrats might not let Republicans' health care repeal efforts die quietly after all.

A top Democratic aide tells me that leadership staffers are considering ways to make Republicans take tough votes on popular elements of the bill, as Republicans figure out if and how they'll force a vote on full repeal.

Nothing's been finalized, including precisely how they'd go about it. But the point would be to turn a global health care repeal push into something more piecemeal -- should seniors pay back their $250 doughnut hole check? Should children with pre-existing conditions be stripped of insurance?

Health Care

Republicans Claim To Have 'Repealed Obamacare' -- Except They Didn't

Brian Beutler | January 20, 2011, 10:14AM

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)

Republicans were pretty excited about yesterday's House vote to repeal health care reform. A bit too excited.

"WE JUST REPEALED OBAMACARE!" Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) tweeted in all caps, exhibiting the same exuberance with which he screamed at President Obama during last year's State of the Union address.

Sarah Palin aide Rebecca Mansour retweeted an ally who tipped his hat. "Governor Palin's hard work and sacrifice made today's repeal of ObamaCare possible. Please tell the Governor Thank You."

One correct response to these statements is, "YOU LIE!"

Health Care

Pro Health Care Group Targets GOP Freshmen For Repeal Vote (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | January 20, 2011, 9:30AM

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama

That didn't take long.

Moments after House Republicans (and three Democrats) voted to repeal President Obama's health care law, TV ads went live in the districts of three GOP freshmen in contested districts to knock them for that vote.

The ads target Reps. Jim Renacci (R-OH), who ousted John Boccieri in November, Jon Runyan (R-NJ) who knocked off John Adler, and Tim Walberg (R-MI), who defeated Mark Schauer.

Health Care

Bachmann: Repeal The Senate To Undermine Socialist 'Obamacare' (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | January 20, 2011, 9:17AM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

No House majority likes to see its accomplishments buried in the graveyard of the Senate. That's why Republicans, who cherished the Senate's anti-majoritarian rules for the last two years, are already complaining about how their plans to repeal the health care law have just run into a dead end.

The logical solution to this problem, of course, is filibuster reform, unless you are Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), in which case it's more repealing of things. Specifically, Bachmann wants to repeal President Obama and the Senate and replace them with something more sympathetic.

Health Care

Lock, Stock, and Barrel: House Votes To Repeal Health Care Law

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2011, 5:53PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday evening to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- President Obama's signature accomplishment and the single most consequential piece of legislation Democrats passed in the 111th Congress.

All Republicans and 3 Democrats voted for the repeal measure, while 189 Democrats voted to preserve the new reforms. The final vote was 245-189. The three Democrats who voted for repeal were Reps. Mike Ross (D-AR), Mike McIntyre (D-NC) and Dan Boren (D-OK). The only member who didn't vote was Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who remains in the hospital following an assassination attempt on Jan. 8.

The vote fulfills one of the GOP's main promises to its base ahead of the November midterms, when they retook control of the House from the Democrats. But it's a Pyrrhic victory for conservatives. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has signaled he won't hold a vote on repeal, and any effort by the GOP to force that vote will be met with fierce resistance by Democrats who still hold a majority in the upper chamber.

Health Care

Dems Press GOPers To Repeal Their Own Benefits Along With Health Care Law

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2011, 5:43PM

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Democrats are basically powerless in the House, but they can force Republicans to take uncomfortable votes pretty regularly.

Using a procedural tool called the motion to recommit, Democrats forced Republicans to take a stand on whether or not members of Congress should receive federal health care benefits. The measure would have made repeal of the health care law contingent on more than half of all members of Congress opting out of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program.

It reads that repeal shall "not take effect unless and until the Director of the Office of Personnel Management certifies to the Congress that a majority of the Members of the House of Representatives and a majority of Members of the Senate have, as of the date that is 30 days after the date of initial passage of this Act in the respective House, voluntarily and permanently withdrawn from any participation, and waived all rights to participate, as such a Member in the federally funded Federal employees health benefits program (FEHBP) under chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, effective with the first month after the date of execution of such a withdrawal and waiver."

Republicans voted it down: it isn't the most comfortable issue for them.

Eric Cantor

Republicans Discover Their Love For Filibuster Reform -- House Republicans, That Is

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2011, 11:01AM

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Senate Democrats who want to reform the filibuster may have found an unlikely ally: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).

"I've got a problem with the assumption here that somehow the Senate can be a place for legislation to go into a cul-de-sac or dead end," Cantor told reporters this morning.

He's referring specifically, of course, to the Repealing the Job Killing Health Care Law Act, which the House will pass tonight. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says the bill is a partisan exercise, and a non-starter -- thus, Cantor and other Republicans want the upper chamber to discover its populist side.

Health Care

Hoyer: We Failed To Sell Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2011, 1:03PM

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Ahead of Wednesday's House vote on repealing the new health care law, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer assessed how the Democrats ended up so deeply on the defensive over their signature accomplishment.

In short, he said it was a messaging fail.

"None of us did a good enough job, because public opinion is divided and unsure of whether this legislation is going to be positive for them and their families," Hoyer told reporters at his weekly press availability. "About half are, and about half are not sure."

Health Care

New Ad: GOP Wants To Repeal Health Benefits That Mirror Their Own

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2011, 9:41AM

Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and John Boehner (R-OH)

A new cable TV ad, running nationwide on CNN and in D.C. on all news channels, highlights the fact that Republicans want to repeal a law that provides regular people the same health benefits they receive as members of Congress.

"The Affordable Care Act gave your family the same health protections members of Congress get," the ad says. "But Republicans want to take that protection away from your family."

Complete with sad-looking baby in the background!

Health Care

White House Steps Up Defense Of Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2011, 9:12AM

Sec. of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius

With the GOP-controlled House of Representatives set to vote to repeal health care reform this week, the Obama administration is intensifying a public campaign to reframe the fight over the law: making it one in which Republicans are villains, trying to rescind benefits the Affordable Care Act provides people. One of those benefits is a ban on discrimination against people with pre-existing health conditions.

A report from the Department of Health and Human Services, published today, concludes that between 50 and 129 million Americans have pre-existing medical conditions, depending on the definition of the term. About 50 million Americans have pre-existing conditions as defined by state-run high-risk pools before the new health care law passed, according to the study. Likewise, a full 129 million have pre-existing conditions as defined by private health insurance companies.

Health Care

How The Health Care Repeal Push Marks The End Of The Universal Health Care Consensus

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2011, 8:51AM

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

Here's one case for the individual mandate in the health care law boiled down to two sentences -- both fairly elegant considering they were spoken extemporaneously.

"There isn't anything wrong with it, except some people look at it as an infringement upon individual freedom. But when it comes to states requiring it for automobile insurance, the principle then ought to lie the same way for health insurance, because everybody has some health insurance costs, and if you aren't insured, there's no free lunch. Somebody else is paying for it." -- June 14, 2009

A corollary to that argument is that you can't have a functioning private health care system that treats the sick unless it also draws money from the healthy. In this regard, the individual mandate actually marries two distinctly American priorities -- an obsession with private markets, and the core belief that nobody should go without health care.

Considering just how cacophonous the health care debate has become, it might surprise you to learn that the mystery reformer quoted above is Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the Republicans' health care point man in the Senate who, during the same interview, with great authority, claimed "I believe that there is a bipartisan consensus to have individual mandates."

Health Care

GOP Won't Rename 'Repealing The Job Killing Health Care Law Act'

Brian Beutler | January 13, 2011, 2:59PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

In the wake of the shooting spree in Arizona, Democrats pressed Republicans to change the name of their health care repeal bill -- the bluntly titled "Repealing the Job Killing Health Health Care Law Act."

No luck. A spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says they're sticking with that name.

As first reported by Greg Sargent, that vote is scheduled for next week. In a statement sent my way, Cantor spox Brad Dayspring confirms, "As the White House noted, it is important for Congress to get back to work, and to that end we will resume thoughtful consideration of the health care bill next week. Americans have legitimate concerns about the cost of the new health care law and its effect on the ability to grow jobs in our country. It is our expectation that the debate will continue to focus on those substantive policy differences surrounding the new law."

Jan Schakowsky

Schakowsky: Peculiar How Defensive People Get About Critiques Of Violent Rhetoric

Brian Beutler | January 12, 2011, 2:22PM

Jan Schakowsky

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) sees positive signs that the shooting spree in Arizona has eased tensions between the political parties. But she says it's mighty peculiar that some folks get so annoyed at the general suggestion that political rhetoric can beget violence.

"It's interesting to me how incredibly defensive that this discussion has become," she said outside of a caucus meeting Wednesday. "Does anybody really want to defend the use of a bullseye, or the image of a member of Congress, shooting at it?"

Health Care

Four Democrats Back Health Care Repeal In Test Vote

Brian Beutler | January 7, 2011, 11:10AM

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

The House voted 236-181 Wednesday, mostly along party lines, to pass a key procedural measure signaling its intent to repeal the new health care law.

Four Democrats joined the unanimous GOP majority in support of repeal: Reps. Dan Boren (D-OK), Larry Kissell (D-NC), Mike McIntyre (D-NC), and Mike Ross (D-AR)

The final vote on the repeal bill -- better known now as the "Repealing the Job Killing Health Care Law Act" -- is scheduled for Wednesday.

Health Care

House To Hold Test Vote On Health Care Repeal Today

Brian Beutler | January 7, 2011, 9:37AM

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

The Republican-led House of Representatives today will hold a key test vote on its top priority: repealing the new health care law.

The up-or-down vote will set the terms of the debate on the repeal bill itself, which is scheduled to hit the floor (and pass) on Wednesday. During that debate, Democrats will be unable to introduce their own amendments and have been closed out of the process more generally. An earlier plan to force committee-level votes on popular elements of the bill was scuttled earlier this week.

Health Care

The GOP's Health Care Repeal Problem: $230 Billion In Lost Revenue And Counting

Brian Beutler | January 6, 2011, 2:16PM

Mitch McConnell (R-KY), John Boehner (R-OH), and Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Since taking the majority -- and even before that -- Republicans have been at pains to explain away a problem they've seen coming for months: the fact that CBO and most analysts find that repealing the health care law will cost money. Big money. But they have a separate, less appreciated problem.

Today, CBO forecast that the 10-year cost of repealing health care reform is actually $230 billion. That's nearly $100 billion higher than one might have expected, given that just under a year ago, the same budget analysts concluded that the Affordable Care Act would reduce the deficit by $143 billion in the first decade.

And if the CBO's projections for the law hold, the cost of repeal will grow larger and larger the longer the law stays in effect.

Health Care

Boehner: Transparency In House Subject To My Discretion

Brian Beutler | January 6, 2011, 12:42PM

House Minority Leader John L. Boehner (R-OH)

How "open" will House Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) more-open House of Representatives be? That's up to John Boehner. At his first press conference as House Speaker Thursday morning, Boehner cautioned that the implementation of the GOP's transparency promise will be left to his discretion. That includes the Repeal of the Job Killing Health Care Law Act -- which will be expedited to the floor without amendment, and will ignore CBO's warning that it will significantly increase the deficit.

"I do not believe that repealing the job-killing health care law will increase the deficit," Boehner said. "CBO's entitled to their opinion, but they're locked within constraints of the 1974 Budget Act."

Health Care

Dem Talking Points On Republicans Accepting Government Health Care

Brian Beutler | January 6, 2011, 10:15AM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Pursuant to the Democrat motion to force Republicans to publicly accept or reject health care, a Democratic source passed along the talking points Dems plan to use as Republicans begin to draw on their health care benefits.

Wednesday night, House Dems used a procedural maneuver to make Republicans vote on whether or not to publicly announce when they begin to draw on their government provided benefits. The Democrats plan to use that vote to highlight what they call the Republican hypocrisy of attempting to repeal health care reform while refusing to disclose if they are accepting health insurance.

Read the talking points below.

TPMDC Repealing health care

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Brian Beutler | February 2, 2011, 10:22AM

Brian Beutler | February 1, 2011, 3:22PM

Brian Beutler | February 1, 2011, 3:14PM

Brian Beutler | January 31, 2011, 5:35PM

Brian Beutler | January 31, 2011, 3:00PM

Brian Beutler | January 26, 2011, 1:56PM

Brian Beutler | January 25, 2011, 1:59PM

Brian Beutler | January 24, 2011, 8:30AM

Brian Beutler | January 21, 2011, 9:17AM

Brian Beutler | January 20, 2011, 10:14AM

Brian Beutler | January 20, 2011, 9:30AM

Brian Beutler | January 20, 2011, 9:17AM

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2011, 5:53PM

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2011, 5:43PM

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2011, 11:01AM

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2011, 1:03PM

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2011, 9:41AM

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2011, 9:12AM

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2011, 8:51AM

Brian Beutler | January 13, 2011, 2:59PM

Brian Beutler | January 12, 2011, 2:22PM

Brian Beutler | January 7, 2011, 11:10AM

Brian Beutler | January 7, 2011, 9:37AM

Brian Beutler | January 6, 2011, 2:16PM

Brian Beutler | January 6, 2011, 12:42PM

Brian Beutler | January 6, 2011, 10:15AM

TPMDC
Repealing health care