It's unlikely new health legislation would go to the floor before November. | JAY WESTCOTT/POLITICO GOP plan for 'Obamacare': Nothing

Republicans still have only one thing in mind when it comes to President Barack Obama’s health care law: full repeal.

If the Supreme Court wholly or partially strikes down the law on Thursday, House Republicans won’t rush to pass a bill that allows young adults under 26 to stay on their parents’ insurance. They won’t pass legislation forcing insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. And the gap in drug coverage that requires seniors to pay more out of pocket — the so-called donut hole — won’t immediately be closed.


Never mind that those are some of the most popular provisions in the health care law — Republicans will be in no rush to pass any health care legislation besides a straight repeal measure after the Supreme Court rules. They’re going to let legislation slowly wind its way through committees and get debated, dissected and amended. If the entire law or part of the law is upheld, the House GOP would vote for repeal, of course — they already have.

( Also on POLITICO: Full health care coverage)

The refined legislative strategy — described to POLITICO by several top-level Republican aides — is a shift from where the party was a few weeks ago. Earlier this month, top GOP officials were privately deliberating what legislation they would push to fill the gap caused by a full strike-down of Obama’s health care law. Corralling lawmakers behind hefty legislative proposals in an election year would also be a tough task.

But major insurance companies may have given Republicans some political cover, saying they would voluntarily keep some of the law’s results in place if it is struck down.

So at this point, Republicans aren’t exactly feeling any urgency to do anything proactive if the Supreme Court knocks down any or all of the law. The reasoning behind the go-slow approach is to show a contrast with Democrats, whom they accused of writing a 2,000-page bill in Democratic leaders’ offices and jamming it through Congress, launching nationwide protests while ensuring the political demise of many House Democrats in the 2010 elections.

Republicans also just don’t see much upside in relitigating health care in the summer before a presidential election once the Supreme Court has spoken.

“We certainly aren’t going to repeat Washington Democrats’ mistake by passing a massive bill no one has read,” said Michael Steel, Speaker John Boehner’s spokesman. “Beyond that, we will have to see what the Supreme Court decides. Our priority will be repealing the president’s health care law, which is making it harder for business, especially small businesses, to grow and create jobs.”

The Republican strategy also shows that there’s little chance any new health care legislation would be considered on the floor of the House before the November election.

“Everything we move as a response to the Obamacare decision will go through the committee process, will go through regular order, in the exact opposite fashion of the Democrats,” said one senior Republican aide, speaking without attribution to describe internal deliberation.

So while the Supreme Court has all of Washington — and much of the nation — on edge awaiting the most consequential decision in a decade, Republicans are armed with legislative ideas, poll-tested talking points and a cautious, calculated political strategy to deal with the fallout.

That’s not to say the go-slow approach is without risk.

There will be enormous pressure from the White House, congressional Democrats and health care activists to immediately act to keep in place the very popular provisions that deal with pre-existing conditions and keeping young adults on their parents’ health insurance.

Republicans privately acknowledge they might be required to reconsider their strategy if Democrats launch successful political attacks that frame Republicans as deaf to the concerns of uninsured Americans.

That’s not the only planning behind the scenes.

Aides to all House leaders — including Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — met in the Cannon House Office Building over Chick-fil-A sandwiches Friday to coordinate messaging for each of the three possible rulings.

“We’ve been prepared and coordinated in our response from the start — unlike congressional Democrats, who have been either silent or divided,” a GOP leadership aide said.

In fact, there’s been a critical shift in messaging over the past few weeks. The party received polling data that suggested they shouldn’t celebrate if the law is knocked down — it would make them look like they’re celebrating an Obama defeat.

That’s why Boehner released a memo last Friday, urging his party to avoid “[spiking] the football” — they don’t want to look like they’re dancing on a grave. Instead, they’re beginning to reframe the debate. Talking points distributed by Boehner talk about the law driving up costs for businesses and taking away health care decisions from families.

McCarthy is also trying to redirect lawmakers’ attention — he doesn’t want elected officials to think about the individual mandate. The No. 3 Republican drew up a palm card titled “It’s Not Just the Individual Mandate: Ten More Reasons to Support the Full Repeal of the President’s Health Care Law.” Among the reasons cited: the employer and state mandate, “new and higher taxes,” more regulations and bigger government, cuts to Medicare payments, the “conscience mandate” and higher health costs.

Mitt Romney’s campaign has been coordinating with the Hill on messaging — the Republican National Committee distributed a confidential memo to top Hill officials and campaign staff about talking points going into the week. Some versions of the memo suggest members of Congress talk about a change of leadership at the top being needed — but that is nowhere on the official congressional Republican talking points. Some of the Romney campaign’s calls for Republicans to “wait” for his marching orders on health care has irked D.C. insiders, they say privately.

One element leadership will have to control is the cavalcade of lawmakers who think they have the best answers on health care reform. The committee process is sure to blunt that.

The troops appear to be staying in line — for now.

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), a physician who is active in the Congressional Doctors Caucus, said he’s on board with leadership’s strategy.

“Fix the problems that are finite and fixable and that need to be fixed immediately,” Burgess said. “Some don’t require congressional activity — leave those alone or let the market handle them.”

The court’s ruling could leave behind tough problems that require deeper congressional attention, but Burgess advises to keep powder dry.

“That’s not going to happen between now and Nov. 6, that’s not going to happen between now and Inauguration Day,” he said. “But you can set some of the pieces in place, and those pieces will be principles on which your legislation will be informed.”

Matt DoBias contributed to this report.