Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in the GOP’s weekly address that Democrats are trying to rush through a health care plan that will drive up costs and force the rationing of medical services.
“Throughout this debate, the administration’s central argument has been that America needs health care reform for the sake of the economy,” McConnell said. “Yet according to independent estimates, every health care proposal Democrats on Capitol Hill have offered would only hurt the economy.”
The Congressional Budget Office has provided cost estimates for two Democratic proposals of $1 billion and $1.6 billion. Democrats are trying to find cuts and say they can deliver a plan that will be cost efficient yet provide coverage for all Americans.
But McConnell said in his address that he has doubts, based on the $800 economic stimulus bill the Democrats pushed through Congress this year.
“The administration said the stimulus was necessary to jumpstart the economy, even though it would plunge the country deeper into debt,” McConnell said. “They even predicted that if we passed it quickly, unemployment wouldn’t go higher than eight percent. Well, here we are just a few months later and the unemployment rate is approaching 10 percent.”
McConnell pointed out pork projects in the stimulus plan, including a 13-foot -long turtle tunnel in Florida that cost the taxpayers $3.4 million.
