Cantor dares Reid to hold repeal vote

By: Jake Sherman and Jennifer Haberkorn January 18, 2011 03:09 PM EST

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor isn’t one to hold his feelings back — especially when it comes to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. On Tuesday, the Virginia Republican threw a little more fuel on the fire, suggesting Reid (D-Nev.) was afraid to actually bring up the health care repeal vote in the Senate. “If Harry Reid is so confident that the repeal vote should die in the Senate then he should bring it up for a vote if he’s so confident he’s got the votes,” Cantor said. Reid’s office rejected the idea. “Not only would repeal not pass, but according to a poll by AP over the weekend, three out of four people don’t want it to,” Reid spokesman Jon Summers said. “Why? Because full repeal means raising taxes on small businesses, reopening the Medicare donut hole, and putting insurance companies back in charge of your health care.” House Republicans opened debate on repealing the health care reform law Tuesday afternoon arguing that they’re doing what the public wanted. “We are here because we heard the American people in the last election,” Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on the House floor. “We said we’d do a straight up-or-down vote to repeal this health care law and that’s what we’re doing here today.” The legislation is unlikely to amount to much more than a symbolic measure to meet a campaign promise, however. The repeal bill is expected to pass the House tomorrow. All Republicans and four Democrats supported a procedural vote on the bill earlier this month. But Senate Democrats have promised to block the bill in the upper chamber where they hold enough seats to stop it. However, the vote could force some moderate Democrats into a tough decision in a cycle where many believe Reid’s party could lose more seats in the upper chamber. Cantor questioned whether Democrats actually have all the support for health reform that they think they do. “If Harry Reid is so confident that the members of that body are where he is, then let’s see them vote in that body.” Republicans expect to keep hammering Reid to bring the bill to the floor — even though they know its a fruitless effort. One GOP aide said they will try to frame Reid as the “cul-de-sac in chief” on health care and other items they pass in the lower chamber that have little chance in the Senate. House Democrats called the repeal effort a waste of time – one “that thankfully will go nowhere in the Senate and will certainly get vetoed,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), ranking member of the Budget Committee. “It’s a historic mistake to take away these patient protections and [send] these people back to the whims and abuses of the insurance industry,” Van Hollen said. Meanwhile, other Democrats used the focus on health care to highlight popular parts of the new legislation. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters that he is one of the millions of Americans with a pre-existing condition, because he has had asthma since he was four-years-old. Starting in 2014, the new law will make it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to adults with pre-existing conditions. Beginning last September, the law made it illegal to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.