Democrats Defend Obama Health Care Overhaul

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats defending President Barack Obama's health care overhaul are accusing Republicans of supporting "activist judges" - those who found the law unconstitutional.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said Wednesday that the same Republicans who want to repeal the new law also condemn judicial activism. Federal judges in Virginia and Florida have found all or parts of the overhaul unconstitutional. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Durbin said Republicans are pushing the Supreme Court to strike down the law because they failed to defeat it in Congress.

Iowa Republican Charles Grassley responded that Democrats should have held a hearing on the constitutionality of the overhaul before it was passed, not after.

The Senate's effort to repeal the health care law was expected to fail later in the day.