02/22/2011
The Senate would vote to repeal the national health care overhaul. This was the pledge Sunday of Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader and a Republican from Kentucky, following the passage of repeal legislation by the House last week.
During an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” McConnell said, “I’m not going to discuss how we’re going to do it from a parliamentary point of view here, but it’s very hard to deny people votes in the Senate, and I assure you we’ll have a vote on repeal.”
He admitted that only a small number of Republicans are confident that the repeal would pass the Senate. Just the same, he expressed surprised on the hesitation of Democrats to hold a vote on one of their important legislative agenda items.
McConnell said, “I don’t know why the Democrats don’t want to vote on it.” He also added, “They’re proud of it. They think it’s one of the most important things that they’ve done for the country.”
The Senate Minority Leader’s call for a repeal vote echoed a similar statement made by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who dared Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last week to hold the matter to a vote.
During a separate interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Dick Durbin, the Senate Majority Whip and a Democrat from Illinois, discarded the notion of Democrats bringing the repeal bill to the floor. He did mention, however, that Republicans could try to raise the issue of repeal to the floor using the amendment process.
