WASHINGTON — A more civil but still spirited and partisan House of Representatives began debating Tuesday the Republican bid to repeal the 2010 health care law.
A vote to repeal the law is expected today, and the GOP-dominated House is expected to approve the measure easily. The effort is likely to fail in the Democratic-majority Senate, however, forcing Republicans to attack the law piecemeal in coming months.
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Meanwhile, the polarizing issue gave House members their first chance to display whether they have learned any lessons from the national trauma that followed the mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., on Jan. 8.
The rampage killed six and wounded 13, including one of their own members, Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, critically wounded with a gunshot through her head.
The tone of House debate was notably different from last year’s health care brawl, which featured thousands of protesters chanting outside the Capitol and threats of violence against lawmakers, including Giffords.
Tuesday’s rhetoric, though, resembled an old-fashioned debate. Each side came ready with facts, anecdotes and hyperbole, but no personal vitriol.
Repeal “will take away new rights and freedoms, put insurance companies back in charge and balloon the deficit,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.
No, said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, the law “expands the dependency state in America for political reasons.”
Such rhetoric is hardly unusual at the Capitol. But the tension that gripped the House for the past two years was absent.
In September 2009, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shouted “You Lie!” during President Barack Obama’s health care address to Congress. Wilson quickly apologized.
During the House health care debate last March, King and others went to a Capitol balcony and egged on demonstrators below.
Lawmakers around the country reported threats and violent incidents, including Giffords, a health overhaul supporter whose Tucson office was vandalized the night of the House vote.
Each party’s leaders blamed the other for the tension. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., now the House majority leader, specifically named two Democratic officials as “dangerously fanning the flames by suggesting that these incidents be used as a political weapon.”
Tuesday, however, Cantor had a far more conciliatory tone. He talked about the need for “civil discourse” and the need for “decency.”
Conservative groups Tuesday quietly presented thousands of petitions from around the country urging repeal.
Jenny Beth Martin, the Tea Party Patriots national coordinator, recalled how conservative members of Congress were able to spread the word on talk shows and mobilize a big, angry crowd against the bill’s passage last year.
This time, though, the effort was different — since Republicans have a 242 to 193 House majority, she said, “We will enjoy tomorrow very much.”
The Department of Health and Human Services released a report saying that as many as 129 million people, about half the under-65 population, have a pre-existing condition that could jeopardize their ability to get insurance. The 2010 law makes it illegal to deny coverage because of such conditions.
Republicans said the bill is highly unpopular. “Millions of Americans screamed out loudly they don’t want this,” said Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C.
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