House set to vote on health care bill

The U.S. House is set to pass a health care bill, even as thousands of critics rallied in opposition to the controversial measure.

“Here in the real world, it will add to our already reckless levels of debt and put our nation on an even faster course toward fiscal ruin,” Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., said in a statement.

“The public is rightly concerned because the Democrats’ plan puts Washington in charge instead of patients, families, and doctors,” Price added. “As a result, Americans will pay higher premiums and higher taxes in exchange for decreased access to care. That’s not health care reform; it’s a health care disaster. I strongly urge my colleagues to kill this bill so we can finally focus on the economy and reforms that empower patients first.”

Meanwhile, President Obama said he would issue an executive order after the House votes on the health care reform bill that “will reaffirm its consistency with longstanding restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion,” the White House said in a statement. While that helped sway Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and other pro-life Democrats to vote in favor of the bill, some questioned whether Obama’s Executive Order would in fact restrict federally-allocated taxpayer’s money’s use for abortions.

“The law of the land trumps any Executive Order, which can be reversed or altered at the stroke of a pen by this or any subsequent President without any congressional approval or notice,” House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a news release. ”Moreover, while an Executive Order can direct members of the executive branch, it cannot direct the private sector.”

Meanwhile, the attorney general in both Florida and South Carolina are expected to sue over the legislation, The Associated Press Reported.