Chairman Sessions Op-Ed: GOP will hook Dems with health care

Politico: GOP Will Hook Dems with Health Care
By Rep. Pete Sessions

Late on the night of March 21, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and President Barack Obama were celebrating the end of a nearly yearlong quest to pass a government takeover health care bill that the American people had already rejected.

While the champagne corks popped in the speaker’s office, the mood among rank-and-file Democrats was far more somber. Party leaders were rejoicing, but Democratic members, who’d had their arms twisted into voting for the bill, were more likely contemplating their next career move.

Starting last summer, Washington heard warnings from across America. From town halls to marches on the Capitol — not to mention in poll after poll — concerned citizens warned Democrats to back down from their reckless health care agenda.

Instead, the majority spent months negotiating backroom deals and devising underhanded legislative tricks as it attempted to sneak its agenda through Congress and deflect political heat from vulnerable members. While the legislation ultimately passed, however, there remains a target on every Democrat who voted for this government-run catastrophe.

Is the health care bill the lone horse that Republicans will ride to the majority in November?

Unfortunately for Democrats, the answer is no.

The speaker and her loyal followers have much more to answer for than the recent health care monstrosity. From the failed $1 trillion stimulus and job-killing national energy tax to nearly double-digit unemployment and record deficits, Democrats will be on the hook for plenty in November.

While Americans are hurting for jobs and looking for an end to our economic troubles, Democrats have been systematically forcing an agenda through Congress that is not only wildly unpopular with the American people, it also stands in the way of economic recovery.

Vulnerable Democrats, who hoped to avert blame by getting a permission slip from Speaker Pelosi to vote no, will not be able to walk free. Even alleged moderate and conservative Democrats paved the way for their party’s job-killing agenda by casting their first vote in the 111th Congress for Speaker Pelosi — enabling her to implement the agenda of a party and a president sinking in popularity by the day.

There is no avoiding the responsibility that every Democrat member of Congress shares for their party’s disastrous policies.

The health care bill will be the cornerstone of Republican efforts to remind voters that the Democrat majority has refused to take its foot off the gas pedal of more spending, bigger government and higher taxes.

Every major piece of legislation that Democrats pushed through this Congress continues to flat-line with the public, and the arrogant approach to health care struck a discordant note with the American people.

When her party attempted to recoil from the backlash to the first health care vote late last year, Pelosi attempted to abuse the rules of Congress to sneak the bill through.

When that effort fell flat, she called on her members to ignore the will of their constituents and cast a vote that will cost many their political future.

Despite the sales pitches and empty promises coming from the White House and Capitol Hill, it’s clear that the health care bill is a political liability for Washington Democrats. There is no escaping the fact that Democrats are racking up debt, raising taxes and slowing economic recovery with reckless partisanship.

Republicans will be working nonstop through November to hold Democrats accountable for their blatant disregard of the will of the people. Like the American people, we demand accountability and fiscal sanity in Washington.

Over the next six months, Republicans will continue offering responsible ideas for job creation, reminding voters what a Democrat majority means for the future of America.

Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas is the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.