GOP backing away from repeal of health care reform

A week ago, I pointed out the political difficulties that repealing health care reform would pose for the GOP. Looks like they're starting to catch on:

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC): "It may not be total repeal at the end of the day. It may be a series of fixes over the course of this bill getting enacted that allow us to change and possibly bend that cost curve down."

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN): "The fact is [repeal is] not going to happen, OK?"

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the National Republican Senatorial Committee chair, said something similar before backing away under pressure. And Mark Kirk, a Republican Senate candidate in Illinois, is backing away from his initial support for repeal.

It's only a matter of time before more Republicans concede the point -- the political costs of full repeal are insurmountable.

Update 4/2 8:21 AM: See TPM's Christina Bellantoni for more details on what she calls the "repeal back-down."

Comments

[MartyB]

Brendan - I'm not sure why you think it's the political costs making some in the GOP back away from "repeal" – there is evidence the political benefits would outweigh the costs.

More likely, it seems very difficult to imagine a scenario where it would be possible to repeal the entire law anytime soon - before much of it becomes "active".