GOP assails 'widely hated legislation'

"Republicans were withering in their criticism of what they deemed a budget-busting government takeover," NPR reports. "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky blasted the bill, saying it 'fails to lower costs.'" He said Republicans would continue to battle the legislation. 

"House Minority Leader John Boehner assailed the bill moments after passage. 'Not even Ebenezer Scrooge himself could devise a scheme as cruel and greedy as Democrats' government takeover of health care,' the Ohio Republican said in a statement.

"Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), contended that it 'just might wind up being the most widely hated legislation of the decade' (Hensley, 12/24).

The Washington Post : "In the final days of debate over health-care legislation, Republicans fought the Senate bill with every parliamentary weapon they could muster, raising a series of motions on that failed along party lines. The rhetoric grew more harsh as time ran short." Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said on the Senate floor Wednesday, for instance, "From rationing care to infringing on the doctor-patient relationship, this government-run system will guarantee U.S. taxpayers a staggering tax burden for generations to come. … [The final bill] doesn't do any of these things that we set out to do at the beginning."

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., suggested slowing down at the last minute, telling reporters, "We don't have to do this before Christmas. … The majority leader can stop right now.… Let's come back next week, after New Year's, and take up this bill and have some amendments and correct this problem, if nothing else, so that our seniors don't end up getting stuck and our kids don't end up with all this debt" (Murray and Wilgoren, 12/24).