WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders in Congress say voters will have the final word on health care in the November elections, and the GOP is betting that the law’s unpopularity will be enough to drive Democrats from power.
The White House’s response? Bring it on.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, told “Fox News Sunday” that the health law upheld last week by the Supreme Court was a “job-killing, tax-increasing” measure that has angered voters.
Mr. McConnell said the law’s opponents have “one last chance here to beat Obamacare, and we can do that in the November election.”
In a separate interview, White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew told Fox that voters are tired of the health care debate and want to focus instead on job creation
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, says House Democrats are happy to debate dismantling Obamacare, but that repeal is unrealistic.
In a prerecorded interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” for broadcast Sunday, Mrs. Pelosi said Republicans from Mitt Romney to members of Congress are “being the mouthpiece of the health care industry” when they talk about reversing the Affordable Care Act.
Mrs. Pelosi said the act puts people “in charge of how they receive coverage and health care.”
She said Republicans “will ask for repeal, repeal of all the things … that help children, help young adults, help seniors, help men or women who may have prostate cancer, breast cancer, whatever it is, any precondition. And everybody will have lower rates, better quality care and better access.”
“So that’s what they want to repeal,” she said. “We’re happy to have that debate.”
The House is scheduled to vote to overturn the law on July 9. The vote largely will be symbolic since the Democrats control the Senate, but it will put lawmakers on record for the upcoming political campaign.
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