GOP Pledges to Repeal Obamacare

Even as House Democrats search for the votes to send a health-care reform bill to President Obama, dozens of Republican lawmakers and candidates have signed a pledge to back an effort to repeal the measure, should the GOP take control of either chamber of Congress after this fall's elections.

Sparked by the conservative activist group Club for Growth, the "Repeal It" movement first won the backing of some of the most conservative Republicans in Congress, including Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), and has expanded to include some of the party's Senate candidates in liberal-leaning states such as New Hampshire and Illinois. In all, 37 House and Senate members and 163 congressional candidates have signed the pledge.

As congressional Republicans battle Democrats over the House procedures that could be used to pass the bill, they are promising to carry the debate over its substance into the November elections, even though both parties acknowledge repeal would be highly unlikely as long as Obama remains in office.

While the GOP awaits the outcome of competitive primaries in many states, all of its major Senate hopefuls in Kentucky, Nevada, Kansas and Missouri have pledged to "sponsor and support legislation to repeal any federal health-care takeover passed in 2010, and replace it with real reforms that lower health-care costs without growing government."

Republican leaders have played down the largely grass-roots pledge, saying they want to focus on ensuring that the health-care reform bill is stopped from becoming law. But Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), a favorite of the "tea party" movement, said, "This would be smart politically, and it's the right thing to do."