–House Expected To Vote Around 3 P.M. To Repeal Law
–Republicans Say Vote Will Underscore Flawed Law
–Democrats Ridicule Vote As Theater For GOP’s Political Base
–Senate Fights Over Fate of Bush Era Tax Cuts
By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – The House will vote Wednesday afternoon to
repeal President Obama’s health care law, culminating a two day debate
in which each party has clung tightly to its finely honed talking
points.

The House vote is expected around 3 p.m. The motion to repeal the
health care law is expected to be approved on a mostly party line vote.

During the House debate which began Tuesday, Republicans have said
the vote will underscore that weakness of the law and build political
support for its eventual repeal. They charge the law creates an ever
expanding government role in the health care sector.

Democrats have said that this will be the 31st time the House has
voted to repeal all or part of the health care law. They say the GOP has
scheduled these votes as political theater and to assuage its hard-line
base which fiercely opposes the law. They say Congress should be
focusing on job creation measures, not political stunts.

Partisan fissures are also fully on display in the Senate–but on a
different issue: taxes.

The Senate is debating a narrow small business tax measure, but
Republicans are trying to expand the debate to include the fate of the
Bush era tax cuts.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that Senate
Republicans will introduce an amendment during the current debate on a
small business tax cut bill that would provide for a one year extension
of the Bush era tax cuts.

McConnell said Sen. Orrin Hatch, the ranking Republican on the
Senate Finance Committee, will introduce the amendment as the Senate
considers a tax package that would lower taxes for businesses that hire
new workers and purchase new equipment.

McConnell blasted President Obama and many Senate Democrats for
seeking to extend Bush era tax cuts only for those making $250,000 or
less.

He said increasing any person’s taxes is a “really bad idea in the
middle of an economic trough.”

McConnell said Senate Republicans will also seek another vote to
repeal the 2010 health care law. The Senate rejected the GOP repeal
effort last year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scorched Republicans for
threatening to block the extension of tax cuts for those making $250,000
or less.

“Romney and other millionaires don’t need any more tax breaks,”
Reid said, taking a jab at the Republican presidential nominee Mitt
Romney.

Reid has also mocked the GOP’s tax plan as the “Help Paris Hilton”
bill, a not-so-subtle attempt to suggest that the GOP’s tax agenda is
primarily driven to help the rich.

** MNI Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

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