'I’m willing and eager to work with both Democrats and Republicans,' said President Obama. | AP Photos Dems, GOP jockey over health care

Democrats called it a waste of time. Republicans acknowledged it was largely symbolic.

But a bill to repeal the health care law drew the full force of both parties Tuesday as debate on the measure opened in the House, launching a two-year battle over President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement.


Ahead of the vote Wednesday, House Republican leaders pressed a new line of attack, accusing Democrats of thwarting the will of the people by not committing to give the bill an up-or-down vote in the Senate.

Obama, congressional Democrats and the Democratic National Committee went all out in response, emphasizing the benefits that average Americans would lose if the law were repealed.

“So I’m willing and eager to work with both Democrats and Republicans to improve the Affordable Care Act,” Obama said in a statement. “But we can’t go backward. Americans deserve the freedom and security of knowing that insurance companies can’t deny, cap, or drop their coverage when they need it the most, while taking meaningful steps to curb runaway health care costs.”

The Republican call for a Senate vote was meant to put Democrats on the defensive, but it also signaled the central challenge to the Republicans – how to keep their campaign to roll back the law alive when the only thing the House GOP can do unilaterally is already behind them. By Wednesday night, the repeal vote will be over – and they’ve still got two years to sustain their fight before the 2012 elections.

Republicans are promising a steady diet of hearings, funding cuts and votes challenging the law, but little will have the same visceral appeal to the GOP base as a straight-up repeal vote.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) suggested Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was afraid to actually bring up the health care repeal bill in the Senate. Republicans believe the outcome in the Senate could show a majority favors repeal, boosting their efforts.

“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.

Reid’s office rejected the idea.

“Not only would repeal not pass, but according to a poll by AP over the weekend, three out of four people don’t want it to,” Reid spokesman Jon Summers said. “Why? Because full repeal means raising taxes on small businesses, reopening the Medicare doughnut hole and putting insurance companies back in charge of your health care.”

House Republicans opened debate on repealing the health care reform law Tuesday afternoon arguing that they’re doing what the public wanted. They called the law “oppressive,” “unconstitutional,” and a drain on the economy.

“We are here because we heard the American people in the last election,” Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on the House floor. “We said we’d do a straight up-or-down vote to repeal this health care law and that’s what we’re doing here today.”

Democrats – from the White House and the administration to congressional leaders and the Democratic National Committee – launched a broad defense.

On both sides of Capitol Hill, Democrats touted the seven-hour House debate as what Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) termed “a second chance to make a first impression,” telling stories of constituents who they say would suffer if the law were repealed.

The DNC organized a press conference call with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and individuals who have benefitted from the law. The House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), heard from seven people who said repeal would be devastating.

The Health and Human Services Department released a report estimating that as many as 129 million Americans under age 65 have a preexisting condition and could lose coverage. Critics, however, dismissed the report as a political stunt, saying many of those included in the number already have insurance.

It was a rare chance at a public-relations do-over for Democratic leaders, one of whom acknowledged that his party “didn’t do a good enough job” selling their massive overhaul of the health care system.

“Apparently none of us did a good enough job, because public opinion is divided and they’re unsure whether this legislation is going to be positive for them and their families,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday.

A CNN poll released Tuesday shows that 45 percent of voters favor all or most of the law. Another 50 percent oppose all or most of it.

Fifty percent of respondents said they wanted the law repealed whereas 42 percent said they want it kept in place. A Quinnipiac poll found similar results: 48 percent on respondents in its poll want the law repealed and 43 percent want it kept in place.

To buck up House Democrats ahead of the vote, several cabinet officials will attend a caucus meeting Wednesday. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Small Business Administration chief Karen Mills are all expected to visit with members.

The lineup appears aimed, at least in part, at keeping centrist Democrats on board. Vilsack is expected to discuss the repeal bill’s potential impact on rural districts, while Mills will be charged with making the case for how it would hurt small businesses — both areas of concern to the centrist Blue Dog Coalition and other Democrats who occupy hotly contested seats.

Thirteen Democrats still serving in Congress voted against the health care bill in March, but only four broke ranks on a procedural vote earlier this month. House Republicans don’t need Democratic votes to pass the repeal bill, but they would like more bipartisan support to give them momentum.

The legislation is unlikely to amount to much more than a symbolic measure to meet a campaign promise, however. Senate Democrats have promised to block consideration the bill in the upper chamber. However, the vote could force some moderate Democrats into a tough decision in a cycle where many believe Reid’s party could lose the majority in the upper chamber.

Cantor questioned whether Democrats actually have all the support for health reform that they think they do.

“If Harry Reid is so confident that the members of that body are where he is, then let’s see them vote in that body.”

House Democrats called the repeal effort a waste of time – one “that thankfully will go nowhere in the Senate and will certainly get vetoed,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), ranking member of the Budget Committee.

“It’s a historic mistake to take away these patient protections and [send] these people back to the whims and abuses of the insurance industry,” Van Hollen said on the floor.

Jake Sherman, Jonathan Allen, and Kate Nocera contributed to this story