GOP urges better healthcare bill than the one before the Senate
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Republican senators began their part of the healthcare debate by insisting they were prepared to work with Democrats to create a better bill than the one being offered.
“Time after time, I have advocated putting partisan difference aside,” Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) said this morning. “The majority drafted a flawed bill that spends too much, does too little to cut healthcare costs and puts senior benefits on the chopping block.”
Those three points are the thrust of the GOP argument against the Democratic bill. The Senate will vote on Saturday whether to bring the bill to the floor for a full debate after Thanksgiving.
“No one on either side of the aisle denies that we need healthcare reform,” Enzi said. But “we need to take a step-by-step approach.”
Among other problems, Republicans argue that the bill is too expensive, has too many new taxes that hurt job creation and is brought into fiscal balance by cutting Medicare payments to seniors.
Democrats counter that the GOP math showing that the bill will cost more than $2 trillion over 10 years is out of line, that the economy will be hurt more if the Congress doesn’t act on healthcare reform and that seniors will not lose services.
On Saturday, all 40 Republicans are expected to vote against bringing the Democratic healthcare bill to the floor. Democrats have 60 votes within their caucus if it holds together as expected on the issue of bringing the bill to the floor.
-- Michael Muskal
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Senate begins healthcare debate with debate on having a debate
