Republicans are more likely to weaken the Affordable Care Act through indirect means rather than outright repeal. They have previously undermined social and environmental policies by cutting funding, appointing unsupportive officials, and weakening enforcement. Republicans will likely use similar tactics against the healthcare law, such as reducing funding that is necessary for implementation, conducting hearings to expose perceived flaws, and allowing states to weaken consumer protections. The greatest challenge for the healthcare program may be this strategy of gradual weakening through indirect attacks rather than constitutional challenges.

1. The real threat to health care reform
Scientists had been squeezed out of the decision making process. Republicans have not had much
success taking environmental policies off the books. But some Republicans who are not supportive of
these regulations have been able to short-circuit the programs that are in place.
A case in point is the now famous Minerals Management Service which was responsible for
overseeing offshore drilling. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter," published by Times Books, and
editor of a book assessing former President George W. Senate hearings were used to dramatize their
point by highlighting problems such as the mistreatment of pets in the shipping process.
As Professors Theda Skocpol (Harvard University) and Larry Jacobs (University of Minnesota) have
argued in a fascinating paper for the Russell Sage Foundation, the health care program also remains
vulnerable because the administration settled on health care exchanges that were run by the states
rather than the federal government. Assistant Secretary Housing and Urban Development Emanuel
Savas, while on the job, wrote "Privatizing the Public Sector: How to Shrink Government."
The most striking example of this strategy has been environmental policy.
Supporters and opponents of President Obama's health care bill are speculating as to whether the
highest court in the land might rule the president's signature measure unconstitutional.
But the truth is that a Supreme Court ruling along these lines, which is against the odds, is probably
not the greatest threat that health care faces. Hearings have been effective in the past for both
parties. When Republicans directly targeted benefits, such as Reagan's effort to cut Social Security
benefits 1981 or the effort by the Republican Congress to reduce Medicare spending in 1995, they
were burned.
So Republicans mastered an alternative strategy that has proven to be damaging to government
programs. Many middle-class Americans are supportive of the policies that have been put into place
since the 1960s. Nor is outright repeal. House Republicans will propose appropriations that don't
sufficiently fund key components of the program, such as Medicaid expansion, so that it cannot be
implemented efficiently.
Republicans will also have the power to conduct hearings if they want to try to expose shortcomings
in the law or stir up public opinion. Now comes an equally contentious stage -- the struggle over
implementing the law. Bush's administration, published by Princeton University Press. During the
1970s, liberal Democrats sought to highlight the ways in which airline regulation did not benefit
consumers. With all the discussion about constitutional challenge or congressional repeal, the more
likely threat is that Republicans will gradually weaken the program to the point that it is ineffective.
Although the administration has liked to point out that programs such as Social Security started
small and gradually expanded over time, it is worth noting that there are other programs, such as
environmental regulations, that became weaker over time even when they remained on the books.
Since Ronald Reagan became president in 1980, Republicans learned it was more politically
effective to undermine programs through funding cuts and administrative appointments than it was

2. to mount outright challenges that aimed to dismantle public policies. For example, both parties in
Congress have found they can use the power of the purse as a weapon. When Obama took office he
didn't do much to correct these problems, and the nation paid the price with the Gulf oil spill.
If the health care law remains in place, Republican opponents will turn to indirect attacks, if they
follow the pattern set by conservatives since the 1970s. The Gulf oil crisis revealed that MMS had
become an empty and corrupt shell by 2010. District Court Judge Henry Hudson ruled that the
mandate to purchase health insurance in the new law was unconstitutional, many people began
looking to the Supreme Court for a final determination. Supreme Court to decide on health care
lawHe says opponents of the law may have more success weakening its implementationHe says
Republicans have discovered ways to weaken social, environmental programsCutting funds for
implementing health law is one line of attack, he saysEditor's note: Julian E.
The most obvious line of attack will be on funding. The fight over implementation is where real
challenge will lie for the program.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian E. As a result, programs such
as the minimum wage diminished in value.
Republicans have also gutted agencies so that they don't fulfill their missions. Instead of directly
attacking programs, they have relied on more subtle mechanisms to scale back government. Reagan,
for instance appointed James Watt as Secretary of Interior despite his staunch opposition to the
policies he was responsible for. As Americans become more familiar with the benefits of the
program, Republicans will find it more difficult to attack health care outright.
As a result, states controlled by Republicans governors will be able to weaken the administrative
strength of the program and avoid enforcing many of its consumer protections.
Passing legislation was only one part of the battle for supporters of the health care law.
In several cases, conservatives have been able to prevent Congress from updating programs for
many years. Because most of the benefits of health reform won't start until 2014, Republicans have
an unusual amount of time in the implementation phase to mobilize against the program.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Julian Zelizer: Many observers looking to U.S. Zelizer.
. In many respects, the looming court battles over health care are the least of Obama's problems.

3. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.
Princeton, New Jersey (CNN) -- When U.S. MMS allowed industry officials to complete their own
inspection forms and officials received favors from the people they were regulating