WASHINGTON – The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, soon after it convenes in January, will vote to repeal the health care reform plan enacted by Congress last March, Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., predicted in an interview from Washington, D.C.

“I believe there will be a repeal bill, it will be one of the first things brought up,” said Reichert. “We have the majority.”

The Republican congressman from Western Washington, Reichert noted that repeal’s prospects will be uncertain in the Democratic-controlled Senate. He said that President Obama “will” repeal such legislation if it reaches his desk.

Two health care repeal bills have been introduced.

One, by ultra-conservative Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, would repeal health reform outright. Reichert has signed on to a second bill, put forward by veteran Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif, which he describes as “repeal and replace.”

It would cherry pick popular parts of the 2010 reform plan, such as letting young people stay on their parents’ health plans, while allowing health insurers to compete across state lines.

Reichert has won four tough races in what’s often described as the most Democratic-leaning district in America to be represented by a Republican congressman. The 8th District has voted for three successive Democratic presidential candidates and delivered big majorities for Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

As a result, while fire-breathing statements come out of GOP colleagues, Reichert is preaching bipartisanship.

He is critical of Republicans’ dictatorial regime when GOP Majority Leader Tom “The Hammer” DeLay ran the House during his first term. “Democrats weren’t given the opportunity to offer amendments and have open debate,” said Reichert.

When Democrats won control of Congress’ lower chamber in 2006, they set up a closed shop. “When the majority switched, some people decided it was payback time,” Reichert added.

The former King County sheriff predicted that the House will be a happier home come January.

“There’ll be open rules which will allow the minority to offer amendments on the floor and in conference,” Reichert predicted. A moment later, he added: “I’m an optimistic personality. We have a chance to be open and transparent.”

Republicans representing the Northwest in Congress reflect the two faces of the GOP on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., likely chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, is a down-the-line leadership man. The Central Washington congressman was often called upon to chair the House and keep votes open while DeLay twisted arms to secure a majority.

Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, R-Wash., is a member of the Republican leadership whose public statements come in the form of partisan jargon.

But Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, worked with Washington Democrat Norm Dicks to steer resources toward the nation’s long-neglected wildlife refuges.

The most important regional Republican is Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon, who has taken charge of organizing the new House. “Greg has emerged as somebody the leadership really respects: He is very well respected on both sides of the aisle,” Reichert said.

A Reichert-sponsored bill could provide a small, significant test of how the new Congress works.

He has teamed with Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat, on legislation to safeguard wild lands in eastern King County.

The legislation would protect the Middle Fork-Snoqualmie River — the closest mountain valley to Seattle — under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. It would also put 22,000 acres of land, mainly the Pratt River east of North Bend, into the existing Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

Unless it flies in the lame-duck session of Congress, the legislation goes back before the new Congress. Specifically, its fate will rest in Doc Hastings’ committee. Hastings led opposition to last year’s Omnibus American Wilderness Act, which created and expanded wilderness areas in Idaho and Oregon.

“I talked to (Sen.) Murray last week, and it looks like we’ve run out of time this year,” Reichert said. “I have also talked to Doc Hastings.”

With no “taking” of private land, and everything to be protected in King County, Reichert is optimistic of the bill’s chances. The congressman thinks, as a former sheriff, he can argue that designation of the Middle Fork will help clean up what used to be a mountain slum. A big meth lab, a chop shop, and carcasses of stolen automobiles once defaced the valley.

Reichert is an easy-going guy in a profession filled with intense careerists.

He speaks highly of Murray and other Democratic colleagues. He loves to tell sheriff stories. He has lectured anti-environmental Republicans on the political need to support conservation, and told top local “greens” that he can’t alienate his GOP base.

The state gets a new Congressional District thanks to the latest census. A portion of the 8th District — which includes eastern King County and rural Pierce County — might be carved off as part of a new 10th District.

Reichert jokes that he might have the choice of a “safe” Republican seat in “exurban” and rural areas, or a highly competitive district in suburbs nearer to Democrats’ urban base.

“People assume automatically I will slide over and take an easier seat, but I like challenges,” he said.

“I am going to be somewhere.”