U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is not willing to totally repeal the ACA. (Adam Studzinski/WJBC)
By John Gregory/Illinois Radio Network
CHICAGO – U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says he’s willing to work on the Affordable Care Act with the Republican majorities in Congress. He just doesn’t think they’re willing to work with him.
Republicans appear to changing their strategy from trying to fully repeal the law known as Obamacare to making incremental changes. Durbin doesn’t think that shift will result in easier negotiations between the parties.
“Well I don’t know what their alternative is. I don’t know what they’re going to try to do,” Durbin said. “This is not a perfect law. There are things we can do to make it better. We want to work on a constructive, bipartisan basis to do that. The only thing they’ve offered us in the House is repeal over and over and over again.”
Several bills to repeal the law have already been introduced in the new Congress.
One piece of the law already targeted by Republicans is the definition of a full-time work week as 30 hours. A bill has already passed in the House to increase it to 40 hours, a change that Durbin opposes and President Obama was vowed to veto.
