GOP lawmaker: O-Care repeal top priority

GOP lawmaker: O-Care repeal top priority
By Megan R. Wilson - 01-04-15 13:38 PM EST

The repeal of ObamaCare is the priority of the Republican party, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said on Sunday.

“There will be a vote on repeal. The president, in the White House, will veto that,” he said of the symbolic gesture offered by GOP lawmakers still unsatisfied with the healthcare legislation.

However, Barrasso told NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press” that there would also be other bills that strike at other parts of the Affordable Care Act – some of which have gained bipartisan support – including a repeal of the medical device tax and the employer mandate.

There is also steam building behind an effort to remove a provision that classifies a full-time worker as one who works 30 hours per week instead of 40 hours.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who appeared with Barrasso on “Meet the Press,” said that she is working with incoming Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on a way to push the medical device tax repeal across the finish line this year.

It was a tax “slapped on” to the Affordable Care Act, she said, adding that many Democrats – including liberals such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) – are support its removal.

Klobuchar acknowledged that the cost of healthcare reform is, in part, paid for by these taxes, but said she and Hatch “are working on [a way to pay for the removal] as we speak.”