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McCain: GOP will continue to fight ‘government takeover’ of health care

WASHINGTON — A defiant Sen. John McCain said today that Democrats who championed the historic health care bill that passed the House haven’t heard the last of the issue — saying the American people “are very angry” about the legislation.

“I think it’s terribly wrong for America,” McCain said of the bill.

Interviewed on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” McCain repeated House Republican assertions that the legislation amounts to a “government takeover” of the health care system — predicting a series of reprisals against Democrats at the polls and in the courts over the next year.

The Republican lawmaker, who lost the 2008 election to President Obama, said the GOP “will challenge [the bill] every place we can.”

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The measure was approved by a vote of 219-212. President Obama is expected to sign the bill Tuesday.

McCain (R-Ariz.) said he was repulsed by “all this euphoria going on” and argued that “outside the Beltway, the American people are very angry. They don’t like it and we’re going to repeal this.”

The Congressional Budget Office predicted that the bill would cost $938 billion — mainly through a mix of tax increases and reduction in Medicare spending — and cut the deficit by $142 billion in the first 10 years.

People with incomes of $200,000 or higher and families with a combined income of $250,000 or higher will see their taxes go up. By 2014, most Americans would be required to purchase health insurance or face penalties.

“For the first time in history, we will have a major reform enacted without a bipartisan support for doing so,” McCain said.

The bill would extend health care to 32 million Americans who currently have no insurance.

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In a column that appeared today on the conservative Web site Human Events, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich joined the chorus of Republicans who said they will continue to fight against this bill.

“This will not stand. No one should be confused about the outcome of Sunday’s vote,” wrote Gingrich. “This is not the end of the fight it is the beginning of the fight. The American people spoke decisively against a big government, high tax, Washington knows best, pro trial lawyer centralized bureaucratic health system.”

While lawmakers voted, Obama watched from the White House’s Roosevelt Room with Vice President Joe Biden and dozens of staffers.

Afterward, he hailed the bill as a victory for the American people.

“This is what change looks like,” said Obama. “We proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things,” he said. “We proved that this government — a government of the people and by the people — still works for the people.”

Meanwhile, a teary-eyed Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) hailed the passage of the $938 billion bill this morning, saying it fulfills the legacy of his father, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.

“He always believed our country was about expanding opportunity for more and more Americans, and I believe this, as he said, was the unfinished business of Americans,” Kennedy told “Good Morning America.”

“This is a program for the middle class. Too often in America, they’re the ones who are left out.”

Speaking of Obama, Kennedy told “Good Morning America? that he is “so honored that my father supported this president in the belief this president was going to make a commitment and stand by it, and this president stood by it. I salute President Obama. He’s been the president and even more than my father could’ve ever imagined.”

With AP