Boehner wants health care "ripped out by its roots"
House Speaker John Boehner said Friday that Congress needs to "rip" President Obama's health care law "out by its roots."
Republicans approve of some of the provisions in the law, but Boehner says he wants to repeal the entire bill and restart a "commonsense debate."
"We need to start over, one step at a time," Boehner said in an interview with CBS News chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell to air this Sunday on "Face the Nation."
"This is government taking over the entire health insurance industry," he added. "The American people do not want to go down this path. They do not want the government telling them what kind of insurance policy they have to buy, and how much they have to pay for it, and if you don't like it we're going to take you."
In his first interview since the Supreme Court upheld the controversial individual mandate in President Obama's Affordable Care Act, Boehner called on Congress to "start over."
His colleague, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, has promised the Republican-led House will take up a repeal vote on July 11th when Congress returns from recess. The House had taken a symbolic vote to repeal the law back in January 2011.
O'Donnell will also be joined Sunday by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Ok.), a doctor, and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for a debate on the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act, as well as Govs. Scott Walker (R-Wisc.) and Martin O'Malley (D-Md.).
"Face The Nation" will also feature a roundtable with CBS News Supreme Court correspondent Jan Crawford, CBS News political director John Dickerson, Politico's John Harris and the National Journal's Major Garrett.
Watch a portion of the Boehner interview above and O'Donnell's preview in the video to the left.
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President Obama's affordable care act fixes those things and others. What are republicans offering in its place? Not a damn thing that helps average Americans.
By Perry Willis and Jim Babka, Co-founders, Downsize DC
(886 words)
Quote of the Day:
"If elections changed anything they would be illegal."
-- Emma Goldman
In this message:
• Will the election strategy end Obamacare?
• How the House Republicans could stop Obamacare immediately, and why they won't.
• How Romney and the Republicans are manipulating voters.
• How Americans have been conned before, and will be conned again.
• The real problem we must solve.
• What the Deny Consent strategy will LOOK like.
Will the Election Strategy end Obamacare?
Did electing Tea Party candidates change things?
You may think so after House Republicans pass a bill to repeal Obamacare. But . . .
It's what they WON'T DO that really matters.
We all know the Senate won't agree to repeal and the President would veto. But here's what you may NOT realize . . .
House Republicans already have the power to stop Obamacare dead in its tracks, even if the Senate and the President disagree. Here's how . . .
House Republicans could attach riders to all 13 appropriations bills, forbidding the use of federal funds to implement Obamacare.
They already do this to prevent federal funding for abortions, so they could do it for Obamacare too.
But they won't, because . . .
Republican politicians want to exploit Obamacare to MANIPULATE YOU.
And their manipulation is working just fine!
Mitt Romney, the original creator of Obamacare, has exploited the Court decision to raise more than $4 million. But will that money get its donors what they want?
Pay close attention to what Romney is saying. He claims he wants to "repeal and replace" Obamacare. But we've seen this con-game before . . .
Please remember what happened with the debt ceiling fight!
Downsize DC said that Republican politicians already had the power to balance the budget instantly! All they had to do was honor the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling was the ultimate balanced budget law! But remember what they did instead . . .
They repealed and replaced the debt ceiling!
The "replace part" was supposed to give you automatic cuts and forward movement on a balanced budget amendment, but here's what you really got . . .
NOTHING!
The con worked on the debt ceiling fight, and the con will work with Obamacare too.
What I personally like is the health care debate is now presented from a position of inclusion, not from the previous position of exclusion. Including individuals in the responsibility of health care was the uphill battle. With that in place, it is now time to improve and streamline.
The democrats currently have my ear, however, as an independent voter, this is not an endorsement of democrat ideology. If the democrats now turn into the party of "no" and refuse to recognize provisions that are costly, restrict freedom and prohibit economic growth it will destroy the current supportive view.
Message for republicans: If you want my vote, stop the tantrums and explain the "specifics" of adjustment that would convince me otherwise, i.e. the movement to "inclusion" is a tangible specific while the claim of "more costly" is yet to be proven, therefore, not tangible. If health care costs continue the uncontrolled rise as they did under the Bush administration, the claim becomes tangible and the democrats better be ready an willing to make necessary adjustments. Tangible is the difference between a response with specifics and generalized political spin.
Regards,
Independent Voter