Sacramento Bee - 'California Republicans seek to unravel Obamas health care law'

Rep. Wally Herger wants to junk the new federal health care law, saying small businesses are under siege and "looming devastation" awaits the economy.

Rep. Dan Lungren opts for a more incremental approach, proposing to scrap some reporting requirements for small businesses contained in the law.

While their bills have yet to win a hearing, the California Republicans are among those leading the charge on Capitol Hill to dismantle President Barack Obama's crowning achievement. Even if the bills don't advance, the issue is sure to provide fodder in this year's political campaigns, with Republicans calculating it's a winning issue for them.

In California's Senate race, for example, GOP nominee Carly Fiorina has called for repeal of the law as she tries to deny a fourth term to Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Democrats who control Congress say the Republicans are playing politics and wasting time.

"Repeal health care? Are you kidding?" asked Sacramento Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui. "My goodness, we worked over a year and a half on that and consulted with a lot of people and realized that this is an important part and fabric of American life. It is now law, and I'd have no intention of repealing this thing at all."

Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson of St. Helena said such legislation has no chance of passing: "I think it's a fool's errand to go down that path."

Lungren, of Gold River, countered, "The fool's errand was passing this thing in the first place. The American people are against it. We are finding out more and more how destructive this is of our economy."

Herger, of Chico, plans to circulate a discharge petition that would force a vote on his bill over objections from Democratic leaders. He would need 218 signatures to get the legislation on the House floor.

Last week, the White Castle hamburger chain said it would lose 55 percent of its annual net income because of a provision in the law. Starting in 2014, the law will levy a $3,000-per-employee penalty on businesses with workers who pay more than 9.5 percent of their income in premiums for insurance their company provides. Herger said White Castle will be forced to cut jobs.

Lungren's bill would repeal a provision that requires any business that purchases more than $600 of goods or services from another business to file a 1099 tax form to the Internal Revenue Service.

"Large corporations have whole divisions to handle such transaction paperwork, but for a small business - which doesn't have the manpower - this is yet another brick on their back," he said.

Lungren said the law will hurt small businesses in particular because companies will want to deal with larger chains as a way to minimize the number of 1099 forms they must file. He said the provision was tucked into the law at the last minute.

"Virtually no one knew it was in there," he said.

Lungren, however, said that there are no plans to have a hearing on his bill.

"Here's the problem," he said. "The Democratic majority still rules by overwhelming numbers, and the last thing they want to do is to admit they made a mistake and bring this up."

Even if Republicans could get their bills through Congress, Thompson said the legislation would face a certain veto by Obama. As a result, he said, Republicans would do better by focusing on things "that would bring more return to their constituents."

"This is politics at its worst," Thompson said. "People in this country want health care that works. They don't want people spending their time wasting their tax dollars introducing bills because it has some political appeal."