GOP Rep. Burgess says efforts to undo health law will continue

A key GOP lawmaker says Republicans will continue their assault on the health law. Meanwhile, . Gov. Deval Patrick says Massachusetts' pioneering health overhaul is working well.

The National Journal: Chipping Away At The Health Care Law
After three months of unrelenting attack, Republicans have succeeded in chipping away small pieces of the health care law. The unpopular 1099 tax provision is officially gone, with the president's signature on H.R. 4 on Thursday, and the 2011 continuing resolution stripped $2 billion from a co-op insurance program in the health law. But Republicans are not finished yet, says House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Vice Chairman Michael Burgess of Texas. Just ask him if the 2011 continuing resolution ended efforts to defund or repeal the health law. "I would say 'au contraire,'" Burgess told National Journal in an interview. "The fact that you didn't get everything that you might have wanted is not surprising. But you did get some. So that gives us, I think, the vehicle to come back and really try to go after some of the larger parcels of dollars," Burgess said (McCarthy, 4/16).

Politico: Deval Patrick Extols Mitt Romney's Health Care Law
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney doesn't dwell on the health care law enacted in Massachusetts when he was governor, but Deval Patrick, the state's current governor, is more than happy to talk about it. Speaking Sunday morning on ABC's "This Week," the two-term Democrat told host Christiane Amanpour that the measure designed to provide universal health care is working "brilliantly." Patrick said that 99 percent of the state's children now have coverage — and 98 percent of the population overall (4/17).