House GOP Set for Health Care Law Repeal Vote, but Offering No Alternatives
House Republicans generally avoided talk of replacement measures on Tuesday as they mobilized for an election-season vote to repeal the health care law that stands as President Barack Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment.
Instead, they lambasted the 2-year-old law as a threat to the nation’s economic recovery and predicted some Democrats would join them in repudiating it.
“This is nothing short of economic malpractice,” said Rep. Nan Hayworth of New York, citing tax increases, government mandates and other items in the law. “We can and we must do better.”
She did not elaborate, nor did any of the members of the leadership in their remarks to reporters after the meeting.
Republican officials said the general reluctance to sketch any sort of alternative resulted from a desire to focus public attention on the health care law itself. It generally fares poorly in public polling, both nationally and in surveys of independent voters.