After a week-long delay in the wake of the mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., Republicans in the House are getting their shot at repealing the Democrats' health care overhaul. Debate on a Republican bill to repeal the reforms will start -- and likely end -- this week. But today also marks the beginning of a long, renewed debate over health care that is expected to extend through the 2012 elections.


House Speaker John Boehner kicked off a few hours of debate today on a repeal bill, and a vote on the measure will likely take place Wednesday afternoon.


A blog post on the Speaker's website says that tomorrow, "the House will vote on legislation to repeal the job-destroying health care law, giving Congress a 'clean sheet of paper' to develop real health care solutions that will lower costs and protect American jobs, as recommended by these economists and experts." (Note that in the wake of Tucson, the description of the bill has been tweaked from "job killing" to "job destroying.")


The repeal bill is expected to die in the Democrat-led Senate, but the vote gives House Republicans an opportunity to fulfill their campaign pledge to work to undo health care reform legislation. And by instructing House committees to draft a "replace" bill, Republicans can argue they are working to maintain the bill's most popular provisions even as they overturn the bill as a whole.


Yet the renewed health care battle has also put Democrats on the offensive, as they see a new opportunity to sell their reform package to the public.


Democrats organized a series of news conferences today to promote the popular provisions in the health care laws. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius held a news conference this morning on her department's new study showing that as many as 129 million Americans under age 65 have some pre-existing medical condition.


"Prior to the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, your insurance company can decide what is a pre-existing condition and refuse to sell you a policy, charge you two or three times more, or limit your benefits so that your condition is excluded," HHS official Richard Sorian wrote in a blog post. "Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, we have already prohibited these practices for children and by 2014 that will be the law of the land for all Americans. But if efforts in Congress to repeal the health law succeed, all those freedoms will be wiped away."


Meanwhile, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi held a hearing today with the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on the impact the Republicans' repeal plan would have on regular Americans. At the start of the hearing, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) noted that the Democratic hearing was the only hearing held before the start of floor debate on the repeal bill, in contrast to the "thousands of hours" of hearings Democrats held before passing their reform package.

She lamented that each minute spent debating the repeal bill amounted to "one less minute we are spending creating jobs, focusing on getting people back to work."


"Why we are dong this other than playing to the vanity of the conservative, right-wing of the Republican party, is beyond me," she said.


Republicans launched their own press assault, scheduling a conference this afternoon with Tea Party and conservative grassroots organizers to accept hundreds of thousands of letters from Americans calling for the repeal of "Obamacare."


"I want to make sure that members of Congress on the Hill here and across the country understand how deeply and how broadly Americans have rejected Obamacare," Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who will accept the anti-health care letters at today's press conference, told conservative news outlet Newsmax.


While no one expects Democrats in the Senate to even consider voting on the repeal bill, Republicans could win support from some Senate Democrats to support some modifications to the health care reforms. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is already supporting legislation that would allow states to get an exemption for their residents from the individual mandate, the Wall Street Journal points out. Most lawmakers support repealing a certain provision of the bill that requires more paperwork from businesses.


"We have said no law is perfect," Wasserman Schultz said in a conference call today.


Just how imperfect the law is remains up for debate. Republicans are claiming the health care reforms will cost the economy 650,000 jobs, but that figure amounts to fuzzy math, the Associated Press reports.


Democrats, meanwhile are citing Congressional Budget Office numbers that say the repeal bill will cost the government $230 billion over 10 years. Yet those figures rely on projections and estimates that may not come to bear. The most significant parts of the Democrats' plan, such as the individual mandate, have yet to be implemented.


If Republicans do draw up a "replacement" bill as promised, it will likely resemble the legislation they put forward in 2009 as an alternative to the Democratic plan, the Los Angeles Times reports, focusing on lowering premium costs, assuring access to coverage for people with preexisting conditions and increasing the number of insured Americans without raising taxes.


The White House, however, has argued that real health care reform must be comprehensive in order to be effective. Given the challenge of drawing up a bill -- and the fact that the Republican-led committees have no deadline for producing one -- it's possible Republicans could sideline the replacement bill indefinitely.


Still, the GOP plans to keep the Democrats' reforms in the spotlight. The latest polls show Americans are split on the repeal. But there is enough opposition to the new health care laws that Republicans appear to see a political upside in holding hearings on the issue, trying to withhold funding for the reforms, supporting court efforts against them, and attempting to dismantle them piece by piece.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20028803-503544.html?tag=latest

Woo hoo go guys. Let's not raise taxes.

Actually the President and democrats have promised to look at and consider the Republican ideas and possibly incorporate them into the healthcare plan. I will wait and see what becomes of this since Obama has been more open minded towards Republicans and Democrats alike since the election........the fact that he has taken a more middle of the road aspects remains impressive to me ......not that I agreed with the tax deal mind but the fact of being open minded period makes things a bit better.....

well lets hope both sides can actually work together and devise a plan that makes sense for everyone and not just end up with more of the same kind of politics that got us here in the first place.

i know that is waaaaaay too much to ask, but hey, i can dream can't i?

I have a dream that the US government works in conjuction together to form a government that works for the by the people and with benefit to the people both through fiscal soundness and ability to keep the people healthy both mentally and physically......that this government of ours quit inciting and dividing the people to irrational through bipartisanism tacits

in my dream they work FOR the people that put their trust in them and sent them to do the job. but as long as one can make, not only a career, but a ton of money doing what they do, i am not too sure that is entirely possible.

I agree and the people should have the power to fire them through a vote......go down to the local courthouse with enough signature on a petition and file a case of impeachment articles

They offered before.
The Republican Party just didn't offer anything with substance. Just like now,

LESS FILLING

The Republicans just want to rule by minority, tie up gov, and play politics while Americans are unemployed and uninsured.

It doesn't matter even if it passes the House.
It is very unlikely to pass the Senate, and
if by some freak chance it does,
Obama will veto it.
Then they will not have the 2/3 in the House to over ride the Veto.

Or force American's to buy something!

Well since H. Reid in the Senate has vow to not even bring the House Repeal of Health Care to a vote in the Senate I guess your dream fell flat (I am truly sorry it was a good dream).

My question... Why is it that ONE person can stand in the way of legislation presented on behalf of the people?

This very action is a good reminder of why I have had it with our current crop of congressmen and senators.

Politics trump every thing. What is Senator Reid afraid of?

That some democrats will see the truth and vote yes. That some democrat Senators will be afraid of losing their seats and vote yes. Is he afraid that the bill will pass in the Senate and President Obama will NOT veto it so he can put his name on a real Health Care overhual that will do everything HE wanted just not what Reid wanted?

Sure don't need any more time wasted on this.

Repubs need to make their suggestions and let the Dems and President see if they fit well in the bill and get on with it.

They wasted our valuable dollars and time with this symbolic non action vote that means nothing to anyone.

Means something to me.

I intend to do my best to ensure that any senator that does not call for Reid to step back and allow a vote - gets his hat handed to him on the next election.

Even if it means 'empeaching' a few of them.

By 2012 we should have a Senate that actually does its job.

Just as we changed the House of Representatives.

IF it ain't broke don't fix it.

IF it IS broke fix it quick and move on.

Senate is still broke.

Next scheduled 'maintenance' vote is when?

Unfortunately they only way to get rid of a Senator is for them to be voted out by the entire Senate.

Well it won't be 2012 but the house is going to lose it Repubs by the next major vote anyway.

Just like the Dems got blamed for all the misery of the people last year, it is the Repubs turn to get blamed.

So it will be a good year for the Dems next time,

Do you really think so?

It might be... For the ones the Tea Parties think are worth the time.

For all the theives in the House and Senate however it will be 'Here's your hat... Hit the road'

Will be a good year for Americans.

Do you really think the Tea Parties are those groups that stand where you can see them.

He he he... Bet you there are more people voting for less govenment, cutting spending and an end to the lie based politics that have pervaded our system for way to long than what those 'tea party' organizations show as their base.