Republicans eagerly geared up for a battle in the US Congress this week, warning Democrats of an aggressive push to slash spending and an early assault on US President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform.
With most politicians already eyeing next year’s presidential election, Congress returns tomorrow with Republicans in control of the US House of Representatives and a slimmed-down Democratic majority in the US Senate.
Buoyed by their gains in the November midterm elections that also saw the grassroots conservative “Tea Party” movement win its first lawmakers, Republicans are champing at the bit to try to unravel two years of legislation enacted by Obama’s Democrats.
Topping the Republicans’ “to do” list are the nation’s US$1.3 trillion budget deficit and healthcare reform, with right-wing lawmakers saying they are responding to voters’ anger at the stagnant economy and high unemployment.
US Representative Fred Upton, who takes over as chair of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, vowed tough oversight and “to bring up spending reductions virtually every week.”
And he told Fox News on Sunday his committee would hold a vote on moving to repeal Obama’s healthcare reform before the presidential State of the Union address at the end of this month.
Republicans cannot repeal health reform while Obama has a presidential veto, but plan instead to block White House efforts to fund its implementation.
“If we pass this bill, it will put enormous pressure on the Senate to do the same thing, but then we’re going to go after this bill piece by piece,” Upton said.
Obama’s signature legislation, pushed through Congress despite huge Republican opposition early last year, aims to ensure that all US have healthcare insurance.
However, Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann told CBS: “Obamacare will bankrupt the country ... It’s very costly, it’s unwieldy.”
“So we will put forth a clean repeal bill of Obamacare,” she said.
In his weekly national address on Saturday, Obama reminded Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives that they have a “shared responsibility to move this country forward.”
However, serving notice that a spirit of bi-partisanship hesitantly forged late last month looked set to evaporate, US Representative Darrell Issa said: “I think we’re going to be in a constant battle over jobs and the economy.”
Issa, who will be the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and who last year called the Obama administration “one of the most corrupt,” also warned he intends to rigorously oversee spending.
Democratic Party chairman Tim Kaine said on Sunday the president, while aiming to work with the Republicans, was not going to kowtow to them as they wield their newfound political muscle.
“He’s not going to play ‘mother may I’ with the Republicans. He’s going to govern,” he told CNN.
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