Health care reform may have moved off the House and Senate floors and into the shadowy world of the Democratic conference process, but House Minority Whip Eric Cantor says Republicans can still stop reform before it becomes law. In a new memo to his House colleagues, Cantor lays out his plan to target 37 House Democrats and convince them to join the GOP and vote no.
“By convincing just three House Members to switch their position and oppose this bill, we can halt this government take-over of our health care system,” Cantor writes.
Cantor’s target list includes Democrats he says will be vulnerable next year on issues like spending and the shifts in Medicare funding found in the health care bill. But a key component of Cantor’s plan targets 11 Democrats he says could switch if the Stupak abortion language is changed in the final bill.
Cantor says that pro-life Democrats who voted for Stupak “could be in play” if Senate negotiators remove the Stupak provisions from the final bill. Rep. Bart Stupak’s (D-MI) amendment, co-authored with Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) would prohibit private insurers from offering abortion coverage in plans available to low-income people through the so-called government health care exchange.
Cantor writes that although the GOP was unable to stop the bill until now, there’s hope in the House that existing Democratic opposition could increase once the final bill is in place.
“If we can convince enough of these 37 Members (along with the 39 Democrats who already voted no) to reconsider and switch their position on the bill,” Cantor writes, “I know that we can defeat this government take-over of our health care before it becomes law.”
Read Cantor’s full memo here.
