Coburn: GOP Should Repeatedly Offer Bills To Repeal Health Care Reform

This might be a preview of GOP plans after the election, especially if they gain control of Congress:

Senate Republicans should repeatedly offer bills to repeal health reform even if it’s in vain, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Tuesday.

Coburn acknowledged efforts to repeal the legislation, or even defund it, were unlikely to be successful as long as President Obama is in the White House, but said making repeated efforts to dismantle the legislation is the best political strategy for the GOP.

“I think the best strategy is to call for a repeal bill and pass that bill,” Coburn told a group of conservative bloggers. “And if you can’t pass it the first time, then offer it again the next month, and offer it again the next month.”

To a certain degree it makes sense to push legislation which might not pass to clearly demonstrate what a political party desires to accomplish. When they repeatedly push the same exact legislation this becomes a waste of time. If the Republicans were serious about policy they would offer bills to improve upon the bill which already passed. Of course if they had any real interest in doing this there are many compromises they could have easily obtained during the fight to pass the measure.

Republicans might have a stronger argument for doing dwelling on repeal if it was politically popular but polls have consistently showed that the public wants to retain most of what is in the bill once they realize what is actually in the law. In addition, while the final bill isn’t all that popular, as many people are upset because health care reform didn’t go far enough as those who believe it went too far.

Colburn’s suggestion does not provide much confidence in the results of a Republican controlled Congress, especially following  Mitch McConnell’s admission that the top goal of Republicans is to improve their chances for taking the White House in 2012, as opposed to doing something constructive such as trying to improve the economy.