House and Senate Republicans Thursday vowed to continue their opposition to plans by President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats to reform the nation's health care system.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., both pledged to do everything in their power to prevent Democrats from finally enacting a reform measure that has been before Congress for most of the last year.
Boehner accused Democrats and Obama of ignoring the American people's calls for them to stop pushing the bill forward and reiterated the call to start over on the legislation.
"But no, they are going to continue to ram, ram, ram this bill through the Congress," he said. "Every kind of scheme known to man to try and get it through the Congress without a vote."
He added, "Republicans in the House and Senate have worked closely together for the last year, and we're going to continue to work closely together to do everything that we can do to make sure that this bill never, ever, ever passes."
Boehner also took aim at Democrats in the House who are uncertain about whether to vote to enact the Senate reform bill with a package of technical fixes, saying that if they could resist pressure from their leaders it was not too late to stop the bill.
"If they'd had the votes, they'd have passed this bill in June or July last year," he said. "Here we are in the middle of March with a bill that the American people all know about, all the members know about, and they don't have the votes."
He added, "It's not too late for the American people to speak up and make it clear to members of Congress that they don't like this."
McConnell accused Democrats of colossal arrogance in attempting to continue to push the measure through.
"I know the White House believes and, the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate believe they are smarter than everybody else and they have figured this out, and the American people are just mistaken," he said. "That kind of arrogance usually precedes a big fall."
McConnell also took aim at House Democrats, urging them to reject what he called a big government takeover of the health care system.
He also warned that House Democrats who are wary of some of the unpopular special deals included in the Senate bill should not view the second bill of technical fixes as guaranteed to pass the Senate.
"If I were the House, I wouldn't depend on the Senate to fix the problem," he said. "I understand that the fix it bill, which we haven't seen yet, isn't going to fix it."
He added, "They compound the political problem if they think they can get away with voting against these things after they voted for them."
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.