New House GOP is sending a message with health care

WASHINGTON -- Eager to show who's now in charge, the House's new Republican majority plans to vote to repeal President Barack Obama's landmark health care overhaul before he even shows up in their chamber to give his State of the Union address.

Dramatic as that early showdown promises to be -- the vote will be Jan. 12, Republicans said Monday -- it will be just the first in a series of struggles expected to play out in the next few months. Obama returns today from his holiday vacation, fresh off lame-duck legislative victories, and Republicans will be sworn in Wednesday, primed to challenge him after gaining House control in last fall's elections.

Full repeal of the health care law is still a long shot. The House vote would be just the first, easiest step.

But House Republicans vow they will follow up with dozens of attempts to hack away at what they derisively call "Obamacare."

The strategy is not risk-free for the Republicans, who won't have a replacement plan of their own ready by the time of the repeal vote. But they say there's no time to lose.

Senate Democratic leaders are sending their own "you-don't-scare-me" message. In a letter Monday to House Speaker-to-be John Boehner, they served notice that they'll block any repeal, arguing it would kill popular provisions such as improved prescription coverage for Medicare.

Beyond the early health care vote, Republicans are straining to challenge the president's spending priorities, setting up likely conflicts over the budget and the country's debt ceiling. Those votes will be early tests of how the president will maneuver with a divided Congress, as both he and Republicans look ahead to the next elections.

Most likely, both parties will carry the main issues of the health care debate into the 2012 campaign, when Obama is expected to seek a second term against a Republican challenger, and House and Senate control will be up for grabs again.

"It's not going to be easy; it's going to be a long, hard slog," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, an early leader in the health care repeal drive.

The quick thumbs-down vote by the House will have "tremendous utility and value," King said, but it may take electing a Republican president in Obama's place to accomplish the overall goal.