McConnell vows to grill vulnerable 2012 Dems on healthcare reform repeal

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said he will force Democrats to vote on a repeal of the landmark healthcare reform law when Republicans control half of Congress next year.

“I’m hoping we will receive from the House of Representatives a full repeal of Obamacare; it will be hard to get that through the Senate,” McConnell said on CNN's "State of the Union."

McConnell said he hopes “that among those who had maybe second thoughts in the Senate, including the 23 Democrats who are up for reelection in ’12, there will be some openness to revisiting what I think is the think is the single worst piece of legislation in my time in the Senate.”

Democrats are nervous about controlling their Senate majority after the 2012 election as 21 Democratic senators, as well as two independents who caucus with them, face reelection in what is expected to be a difficult political environment.

Republicans will control the House, and incoming Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) plans to pass a repeal of the healthcare law.

Republicans, who remain in the Senate minority, do not control the upper chamber’s floor schedule, but they could attempt to force a vote on a healthcare repeal by offering it as an amendment to other legislation or using variety of other floor tactics.