On a conference call with with Florida Republicans just now, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) promised that if the GOP gets control of the Congress this fall, repealing a Democratic health care reform bill will be the number one priority.
“Our goal if we take the majority is H.R. 1 and S. 1 are [bills] to repeal this law,” he said on the call, which was hosted by Senate candidate Marco Rubio (R).
Rubio promised to be a supporter of Ryan’s legislative agenda if he makes it to Washington next year. “If there’s only one vote to repeal this bill in the Senate, it will be mine,” he said. “But I’m hoping there will be a lot more.”
Despite their readiness to repeal the health care reform bill, both men predicted Republicans won’t need to because the bill won’t pass the House in the first place, despite the promises made by Democratic leaders in recent days.
That’s probably the best case scenario for Rubio, considering that NRSC chair John Cornyn has admitted that GOP promises to repeal the health care bill will probably go unfulfilled even if the GOP takes back the Senate majority.
Ryan said that it’s still probable that reform opponents could stop the final House bill dead in its tracks.
“[Speaker Nancy] Pelosi doesn’t have the votes,” Ryan said. “She’s down about 7-10 votes at this point.”
Ryan said that members of what he called “the Stupak dozen” won’t support the Senate measure, meaning that Pelosi is forced to find votes among Democrats who already voted no. He said that was a tough job, and called for continued pressure from Republicans on former no-vote Democrats who might be wavering this time around.
Rubio, who Ryan endorsed in January, also called on his conservative supporters to keep jamming the phones in Congress and pressure Democrats thinking about voting yes.
Ryan was only on the call for a few minutes, meaning most of the focus of the call was on health care, and not the shadow budget proposal for which the representative has become famous.
Both men on the call tried to make it clear that it wasn’t health care reform they opposed — it’s just the Democratic form of it. Ryan promised that after repealing the most comprehensive health care reform package in decades, a Republican-led Congress would replace it with their own plan to make America’s health care system work better.
