Subject: [big campaign] Chamber at odds w GOP over repeal
From: Adam Jentleson <[email-masked]>
To: "[email-masked]'" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:44:03 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

I wanted to make sure you saw that the Chamber -- which spent $144 million lobbying against health care reform -- is taking a pass on the McCain/Romney/Crist/Ryan/Bachmann/King-led calls for repeal.

Donohue: "We're not going to spend any capital on that."

Links to leading conservatives' calls for repeal below the article.

-Adam

MARCH 22, 2010, 4:07 PM ET
Chamber Won't Push for Health Repeal
By Elizabeth Williamson

Republicans in Congress shouldn't look to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to support a repeal of the health-care overhaul, the group's chief executive said today.

In an interview with Wall Street Journal reporters and editors, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue criticized the health care legislation as a "very, very expensive" and disruptive change to the nation's health-care delivery system. A companion bill that completes the overhaul legislation cleared the House last night and is expected to cross the final hurdles in the Senate this week.

But Donohue made it clear the chamber won't be spending any of its substantial war chest on a campaign, favored by Republicans, to repeal the legislation. The Washington-based chamber, which represents three million businesses of all sizes, spent heavily in an unsuccessful effort to kill the health bill. Minutes after Democrats won passage in the House Sunday night, the chamber issued a statement calling the vote "a wrong and unfortunate decision that ignores the will of the American people."

But once the bill becomes law, Donohue said, "If people want to try and repeal, let them. We're not going to spend any capital on that." Instead, he said the chamber will push for changes to the bill when it enters the regulatory stage, always a key pressure point.

In the 2,800-page bill "you've probably got 15,000 pages of regulation before this is finished," he said. "We have to see what we can do to deal with some of the issues that seem most egregious," and mount challenges in Congress and potentially in the courts, he said.

"There's never been a bill this size ever written on anything that doesn't go back for adjustments and refinements," Donohue said. He added that the chamber will make its views on the bill known in "the court of public opinion, and maybe...the elections."

In the statement late last night, Donohue made clear that the chamber already is laying plans for the election season. "Through the largest issue advocacy and voter education program in our history, we will encourage citizens to hold their elected officials accountable when they choose a new Congress this November," he said.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/03/22/chamber-wont-push-for-health-repeal/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+wsj/washwire/feed+(WSJ.com:+Washington+Wire)

LEADING CONSERVATIVES PUSHING FOR REPEAL:

Sen. McCain: 'We Are Going To Try To Repeal This.' MCCAIN: "I still think it's terribly wrong for America and so do a majority of Americans. With all the euphoria going on inside the beltway, champagne toasting and all of that, outside of the beltway, the American people are very angry. And they don't like it. And we are going to try to repeal this." [Good Morning America, 3/22/10<http://www.criticalmention.com/report/6336x128340.htm> (video embedded)]
Former Governor Mitt Romney: 'The Act Should Be Repealed.' Romney Statement: "[President Obama's] health-care bill is unhealthy for America. It raises taxes, slashes the more private side of Medicare, installs price controls, and puts a new federal bureaucracy in charge of health care. It will create a new entitlement even as the ones we already have are bankrupt. For these reasons and more, the act should be repealed. That campaign begins today." [CNN, 3/22/10<http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/22/romney-on-health-vote-obama-betrayed-his-oath-to-the-nation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+rss/cnn_politicalticker+(Blog:+Political+Ticker)&utm_content=Google+Reader&fbid=cQIST6VE7i>]
Gov. Charlie Crist Said He Would Repeal Health Reform As Senator. "Crist, a Republican who was in Tampa tonight attending the closing ceremony<http://www2.tbo.com/topic/k/closing-ceremony/> for the Gasparilla<http://www2.tbo.com/topic/k/gasparilla/> International Film Festival, said he hopes to get elected senator in November to help repeal the bill and bring a commonsense approach<http://www2.tbo.com/topic/k/commonsense-approach/> to healthcare reform. 'What people really want when it comes to health care, in my view, is they want greater access and less cost,' Crist said." [Associated Press, 3/21/10<http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/mar/21/crist-hopes-repeal-health-care-legislation/>]
More Than 20 Senate GOP Hopefuls Pledged To Repeal Health Reform; Sens. Cornyn and Alexander Pledged To Repeal As Did Rep. Paul Ryan. "More than 20 Republican Senate hopefuls have tied their candidacies to repeal. Mark Kirk of Illinois promises to 'lead the effort,'<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/elections/ct-met-kirk-health-care-0318-20100317,0,4986374.story> while Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), head of the Senate GOP campaign effort, calls 2010 a referendum on repeal. Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), the No. 3 Senate GOP leader, sees 'an instant spontaneous campaign to repeal it all across the country.' In the House, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) vows to make the repeal of "H.R.1 and S.1'<http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/paul-ryan-repealing-hcr-will-be-the-first-goal-of-a-gop-congress.php> the No. 1 goal if Republicans take over Congress. The National Review has published a treatise called 'The Case for Repeal,'<http://article.nationalreview.com/427314/the-case-for-repeal/rich-lowry> and the Club for Growth is already a couple of months into its 'Repeal It<http://www.clubforgrowth.org/perm/?postID=12406>' campaign. " [Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 3/21/10<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/19/AR2010031902636.html>]
Reps. Michele Bachmann And Steve King Said All GOPer Will Sign Discharge Petition To Repeal Health Reform. Speaking to a group of health reform opponents outside the Capitol, Rep. Steve King said, "Starting tomorrow, we're bringing the repeal of this legislation and getting it filed and we started a discharge petition and every Republican will sign it and some of the Democrats will. And those that don't, you'll know who you need to be looking at in November." Rep. Michele Bachmann added, "Tomorrow, we are going to file a discharge petition at the desk. We are going to get every Republican to sign it. And anybody else. If we get 218 signatures, Nancy Pelosi is forced to bring the repeal bill to the floor for a vote. [ThinkProgress, 3/22/10<http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/22/king-health-secession/> (transcript from video embedded)]

-----
Adam Jentleson
Communications Director, Progressive Media
Center for American Progress Action Fund
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
ajentleson (AIM)
202-247-8614 (cell)

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