House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) continues to challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) to take up the Republican repeal of health care reform in the Senate once it (presumably) passes the House, where a vote is currently scheduled for 6:30 this evening.
“We have [s]aid that we are going to be a results driven Congress,” Cantor told reporters this morning. “So I have a problem with the assumption here that somehow the Senate can be a place for legislation to go into a cul-de-sac or a dead-end.”
“The American people deserve a full hearing,” he continued. “Let’s see the votes.”
Reid has said he has no plans to bring repeal to the Senate floor, in part because it has no hope of passing. Cantor has urged the Democratic leader to put his money where his mouth is. “If Harry Reid is so confident that the repeal vote should die in the Senate, then he should bring it up for a vote, if he’s so confident he’s got the votes,” Cantor said Tuesday.
Some Democrats have argued that House Republicans’ pursuit of repeal is a “waste of time” because even if the legislation were to somehow get past the Senate, President Obama has already promised to veto it.
Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) dismissed that argument on the House floor Tuesday. “Others have been saying ‘Well this is not going to pass the Senate, and the president is not going to sign it, so why bother doing that?’ If that is the logic we take on every bill we bring to the floor, then we ought to just go home. We think it is important to define ourselves with our actions and that is why we are acting,” Ryan said