Two GOP hopefuls pledge fight for health-care repeal

Story by Chris Graham
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Fifth District Republican nomination candidates Robert Hurt and Feda Morton are both saying this week that they would work if elected to Congress to repeal the federal health-care reform signed into law by President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

“I have pledged to the people I’m seeking to represent that not only will I vote against government-run health care, I will seek to roll it back should it become law this year,” said Hurt, a Southside state senator and the early favorite to win the GOP nomination in the Fifth.

“Its trillio- dollar price tag is the wrong solution for our grandchildren. Its tax increases are the wrong solution for our middle-class. Its Medicare cuts are the wrong solution for our seniors and its abortion funding is the wrong solution for those with no voice. As Virginia’s next Congressman I will go to Washington to fight to bring jobs back to the Fifth District, ensure that we cut out of control government spending and restore our values which Tom Perriello and his allies in Washington step on every day,” Hurt said.

Tom Perriello, a Democrat, voted in favor of the reform in the House on Sunday.

“For more than a century, our leaders have promised affordable universal health care to all Americans. Today we delivered that result in a way that our local hospitals say will improve quality and reduce costs for patients,” Perriello said in a statement on the vote. “Middle-class families will save $1,000 to $2,000 per year, and small business owners will see the cost of covering their workers drop. This bill will help our rural hospitals and clinics keep their doors open, improve health care for over 400,000 local residents, reduce the federal deficit, and provide coverage to 48,000 more individuals in the Fifth District alone – more than the population of Danville.”

Morton, calling the move to reform a “naked grab of power” by Democrats, pledged to use the full powers of the Fifth District seat in Congress if elected “to defund nationalized health care,” according to a press statement put out by the Morton campaign.

“The House can simply refuse to approve funding for the health-care bureaucracy. Bureaucracy lives off money; if we starve the beast, we can kill it,” Morton said in the release.

Morton also bruoght the abortion issue into the debate. “I absolutely think that voters will remember how so-called pro-life members like Tom Perriello and Bart Stupak caved in the face of pressure. Why some members of Congress would trust an executive order from Barack Obama, one of the most anti-life presidents ever, simply boggles the mind. We need to send a true pro-life representative to Washington to stop this madness,” Morton said.