Republicans act to repeal health reform as they take control of House of Representatives

The new speaker of the US House of Representatives, the Republican John Boehner of Ohio, said that his party’s first priority was to repeal the health reform bill passed in March.

Republicans took control of the lower house of Congress after winning a majority of seats in the November elections. They want to repeal the health bill before President Barack Obama makes his State of the Union speech at the end of this month.

Although the House may pass the repeal bill the action is symbolic, as there is almost no chance that it will be enacted into law. To become law the repeal bill would have to be passed by the Senate, which Democrats still control, and signed by President Obama, a Democrat for whom passing the reform was …