U.S. House should get down to work

Republicans took control of the House of Representatives yesterday, giddy at the prospect of a vote to repeal health care reform. Never mind that repeal will go nowhere in the Senate, where Democrats are in the majority. And President Barack Obama still holds the veto pen.

Republican candidates promised repeal, however, so vote they shall. But they should do it quickly and move on to more pressing business. Or better yet, they should make it a more productive exercise by putting forward proposals to control health care costs. A lingering concern about health care reform is that it will do too little to rein in costs. While in the minority, Republicans talked about issues such as tort reform and allowing insurers to sell policies across state lines. Now in the majority, they have the chance to put forward some serious proposals.

There will be political theater - reading the U.S. Constitution into the record, for instance, and imposing a rule requiring a constitutional justification as part of every new bill. But protracted posturing in a futile attempt to rewrite the last two years of Democratic control would be an even greater waste of time.

The House should get on to the business at hand, with jobs and deficit reduction at the top of the to-do list. The need is urgent and the clock is ticking. hN