Boehner pledges to enact health plan if GOP wins during town hall

Republicans will enact the health reform proposal they unveiled this week if they take back the House, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) pledged Thursday.

Appearing on the Republican National Committee's (RNC) online town hall, Boehner and other House and Senate leaders said they sensed momentum behind GOP efforts to halt Democratic health reform legislation, which is set for a vote on Saturday.

"If we get in the majority after the election, I plan to enact our healthcare plan," Boehner said during the town hall.

Appearing alongside Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.), Boehner said that the thousands of protesters on Capitol Hill this afternoon demonstrated fervor against Democrats' health plans.

"How could you get 10,000 people to show up at the Capital with a few days' notice?" Boehner said, adding that he believes the intensity of opposition for health reform is 100 times greater in 2009 it was when Democrats' health reform efforts were defeated in 1994.

Republicans saw growing fervor in the response to their online town hall this afternoon, as well.

10,000 viewers tuned into the webcast during its first hour, RNC officials said, with 400 questions having been submitted through the program's website. The broadcast featured 60 Republican members of Congress, and made occasional fundraising pitches, in addition to a showcase of different Republican committees' web videos and paid television advertisements.

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) came up with the idea for the program, which was advanced and organized by Pence and RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

Kingston characterized the reaction of lawmakers and constituents on the Hill today as "totally mind blowing," and said that the GOP would try to take more advantage of new media in the future to get out their message.

"We're connecting with Main Street America," Kingston said. "Our base has kind of moved from talk radio to email, to YouTube."

"Our domain for 10 years all they could talk about was oh them and their Fox News," Kingston added. "Well now guess what, we've opened up this new medium."

He said that the town hall, in combination with the thousands of people who rallied against the health vote Saturday, would make Democrats think twice before Saturday's landmark vote.

"If I'm a Democrat I'm watching what happened today on those Capitol Steps," he said, "I'm gonna be really careful before I throw my career away in one vote, which is going to happen for many members on Saturday."

Pence, who has a background as a talk radio host, shared hosting duties with Kingston throughout the afternoon.

The conference chair seemed bolstered by the turnout for the program and today's "House Call" on the Capitol, as well, referring to them as "one to become speaker of the House, one to become majority leader of the Senate."