GOP plans 'aggressive' effort against Dems' credibility on Wall Street reform

Senate Republicans are planning an "aggressive" effort to paint Democrats' claims about their Wall Street reform bill as not credible in light of the healthcare debate.

The GOP plans an effort to highlight claims made by Democrats in Congress and President Barack Obama about their health reform law that would seem to be undercut by reports showing higher premiums and reduced employer coverage that Republicans say are consequences of the legislation.

"This week, Democrats are asking the American people to take their word that some of the worst fears of a Wall Street bailout bill are unfounded," a Senate Republican aide said. "The fact is, there is a significant credibility problem with taking their word for what a massive piece of legislation will actually do."

The GOP initiative is one of the most explicit efforts to tie the healthcare debate to the current financial regulatory reform debate in the Senate, a debate that has, over the past few weeks, assumed some of the same partisan divisions and sharp rhetoric that had characterized the healthcare debate.

Talks between Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee are set to continue throughout the weekend toward a bipartisan agreement on the legislation, though a Monday afternoon deadline looms on the horizon, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has scheduled a key procedural vote.

But the GOP will continue to hammer away against the legislation in its current form by arguing that Democratic claims about what the bill will do can't be trusted. Republicans point to reports that health services employers will have to cut jobs due to taxes under the new healthcare law, or congressional analyses that suggest middle-class taxpayers might face a higher tax burden.

"In light of that, Senate Republicans plan to mount an aggressive effort to point out the large number of demonstrably false claims that Democrats made about their health bill," the aide said.

Democrats and Republicans have wrangled often over the accuracy of their arguments in the Wall Street reform debate. Republicans, for instance, have asserted that a $50 billion, industry-funded pool in the bill to help wind down troubled firms in the future represents an institutionalization of government bailouts, a charge Democrats vociferously deny.

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