Obama On GOP's Promise To Repeal Health Care Law: 'Go For It'

You want to repeal my health care law? Go ahead and try.

That was the basic message from President Barack Obama to the Republican opposition a few moments ago.

Speaking in Iowa City, Iowa, he ran through a series of "real-life" examples of how he says people will be helped by the legislation he signed into law on Tuesday.

Then, he said:

"(Republicans are) actually going to run on a platform of repeal in November. You've been hearing that.

"And my attitude is: Go for it!

"If these congressmen in Washington want to come here to Iowa and tell small business owners that they plan to take away their tax credits and essentially raise their taxes, be my guest. If they want to look Lauren Gallagher in the eye and tell her they plan to take away her father's health insurance, that's their right.

"If they want to make Darlyne Neff pay more money for her check-ups and her mammograms, they can run on that platform. ... If they want to have that fight, we can have it.

"Because I don't believe the American people are going to put the insurance industry back in the driver's seat. We've been there. We're not going back. This country's moving forward."

For the GOP view of why the law should be repealed, there's lots of material on the website of House GOP leader John Boehner, including comments he made today:

"The tax hikes, the Medicare cuts, the job-killing mandates, the accounting gimmicks, the backroom deals -- we are going to fight to repeal them at every single turn. And the fact is, this bill should be repealed and should be replaced with commonsense steps that will help reduce the cost of insurance in America."

Meanwhile, in Washington, the Senate this afternoon passed the so-called reconciliation bill that "fixes" some of the provisions in the law, by a 56-43 vote.