To Repeal, Or Not To Repeal
The Republican Party is struggling with how to respond to the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Some say the GOP should campaign on repealing the bill, while others don't. Below is a brief compilation of who falls into what camp.
Team "Repeal It!"
"And repeal most certainly is in the best interest of the people because this bill will lead to economic harm if it's left in place."
"If this bill passes, we will have an effort to repeal the bill, and we'll do it the same way that we approached health care on a step by step basis."
Gov. Charlie Crist's (R-FL) Campaign:
"Governor Crist will work for the repeal of the health care will (sic) when elected to the U.S. Senate."
"This bill is unconstitutional and it cannot be fixed. It must be repealed."
"I think probably in February of 2013, they repeal the entire bill. Replace the good parts. Because there are some things -- out of 2600 pages, there are probably 200 pages that are pretty good."
"I am committed to repealing this multi-trillion dollar health care nightmare and replacing it with bipartisan reform that will lower costs and improve access."
"So you'd have this huge expansion of the government in the area of spending and bureaucracy - all the problems that the health care system has now will then be law. I think that would be a real affront to the American people. The main effort then would be repealing it."
Republicans will either stand unanimously together for 100 percent repeal, as we did against the bill, or our ranks will be split and our effort defeated... Either we will be unified, energized and resolute for 100 percent repeal or we will be divided and deservedly conquered by Obama, Pelosi and Reid.
"I still think it's terribly wrong for America and so do a majority of Americans. With all the euphoria going on inside the beltway, champagne toasting and all of that, outside of the beltway, the American people are very angry. And they don't like it. And we are going to try to repeal this."
"I can tell you with the campaign that will continue with the American people, I think the slogan will be 'Repeal and Replace'"
"His health-care bill is unhealthy for America. It raises taxes, slashes the more private side of Medicare, installs price controls, and puts a new federal bureaucracy in charge of health care. It will create a new entitlement even as the ones we already have are bankrupt. For these reasons and more, the act should be repealed. That campaign begins today."
"I think the first step is to repeal it."
Team "Don't Repeal It!"
"It may not be total repeal at the end of the day... It may be a series of fixes over the course of this bill getting enacted that allow us to change and possibly bend that cost curve down."
"While this president is in office, repealing this full law is not realistic and not the best use of our efforts."
"The fact is that's not going to happen, OK?"
"There is non-controversial stuff here like the preexisting conditions exclusion and those sorts of things... Now we are not interested in repealing that. And that is frankly a distraction."
Fmr. Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN):
"From a strictly political standpoint, Republicans played it pretty well," he said, adding that they will probably campaign on a repeal of reform in 2010.
"I think they will; I'm not sure that they should," he said.
Fmr. Bush Speechwriter David Frum:
"Some Republicans talk of repealing the whole bill. That's not very realistic. Even supposing that Republicans miraculously capture both houses of Congress in November, repeal will require a presidential signature."
Fmr. Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY):
"Here's what you have to to do. You [Mike Barnicle] just laid out how the Republicans should run the campaign when we get a month, two months out of this -- not 'repeal healthcare', but 'give us a chance to put forward our version of how to reform health care, which we will only be able to do if you give us control of one house."
"Will that make full repeal possible? It might not."
"I would be hard pressed to say repeal the whole thing."
"[W]e are going to have to wait for some changes that face any congress before we have the votes to do that."
