Wilson: GOP has ‘uphill battle’ in healthcare fight

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said that Republicans have an “uphill battle” to prevent healthcare reform from passing the House.

He tweeted:

Rested and ready to go for day 2 of health care markup. This will be an uphill battle to protect choice and small business jobs.

Wilson is a member of the House Education and Labor Committe, which continued their markup of the bill this morning.

Many Congressional Democrats are trying to achieve passage of healthcare reform legislation quickly. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday vowed to bring the House healthcare bill to a floor vote “with or without Republican support.” Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) also said yesterday that the president would most likely have a bill by “early fall.”

President Obama praised the House bill on Tuesday, saying “the House proposal will begin the process of fixing what’s broken about our healthcare system.”

Several measures, though, have raised the ire of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The House bill includes a surtax on people making more than $350,000 to fund its measures. The measure riled several centrist Democrats in the House.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) also said that Senate Democrats were not on board with the surtax and would find a different way to pay for the legislation.