House to Consider Health Care Repeal Next Week
The House of Representatives will consider the bill to repeal President Obama's health care overhaul next week, the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said today.
The new Republican majority initially planned to consider the repeal bill this week as one of its first orders of business. However, this week's regular plans were put on hold after the mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz. that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in critical condition.
"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," Cantor spokesman Brad Dayspring said in a statement. "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."
A detailed schedule for debate will be released tomorrow.
The language used by Dayspring stands in stark contrast to the rhetoric Republicans used to describe the health care bill before the Tucson tragedy. Republicans had repeatedly referred to health care reforms as "job killing," and even named their repeal bill the "Repeal of the Jon-Killing Health Care Bill Act."
"The job-killing health care law was passed over the objections of the American people, and they have continued to speak out against it, loudly and clearly," House Speaker John Boehner said last Friday.
In an apparent acknowledgment of calls to change the tone in Washington, that language has been toned down. While Republicans still show opposition to the bill, they are now discussing "legitimate concerns" that requires "thoughtful consideration."
That stands in stark contrast to Cantor's vow on Saturday, before the shootings, "to fulfill our pledge to repeal the trillion dollar job-killing health care law that was rammed through Congress last year by the previous majority - despite the public outcry against it."
