They say creating jobs 'means renewing our commitment to repeal Obamacare.' Boehner, McConnell vow to kill ACA

House Speaker John Boehner and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, outlining their legislative vision for the last two years of Barack Obama’s presidency, are vowing to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday evening fresh off the Republican Senate takeover and major GOP House gains, the leaders largely maintain their commitment to reaching legislative compromise and cutting through Washington paralysis.


But the Republican House speaker from Ohio and incoming Senate majority leader from Kentucky noted that a commitment to creating jobs “means renewing our commitment to repeal Obamacare, which is hurting the job market along with Americans’ health care.” The ACA remains a politically divisive issue, and further attempts at repeal would surely be met with significant Democratic opposition and a White House veto.

( Full 2014 election results)

The GOP leaders also said they would approach governing differently than Democrats did in 2008, when Obama entered the White House with major House and Senate advantages and passed the stimulus bill, financial regulation and health care reform. “[W]e won’t repeat the mistakes made when a different majority ran Congress in the first years of Barack Obama’s presidency, attempting to reshape large chunks of the nation’s economy with massive bills that few Americans have read and fewer understand,” Boehner and McConnell wrote.

At a Wednesday press conference to discuss the GOP victory, McConnell appeared to downplay a potential repeal attempt, noting that Republicans would not have 60 votes to override a presidential veto. Still, the senator said that Republicans remain strongly opposed to the law. “If I had the ability, I’d get rid of it,” he said.

The op-ed served as a sign of the congressional leaders’ legislative wish list as Republicans enter 2015 with strong majorities in both chambers. Other commitments highlighted in the column included authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline and reforming the Tax Code.

( Also on POLITICO: Obama: Midterms? What midterms?)

A spokesman for current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid slammed the pledge to repeal the ACA, saying that it showed Republicans aren’t willing to compromise and are ceding authority to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

“One day after the election Senator McConnell is already letting Senator Cruz set the agenda,” Reid communications director Adam Jentleson said in a statement on Thursday. Cruz, a tea party favorite, has remained steadfast in his commitment to trying to repeal Obamacare.

“Conspicuously absent from Senator McConnell’s vision for the next Congress: the word ‘compromise,’” Jentleson added.