Dole, in GOP Response, Jabs at Health Care Plan : Reaction: Senator instead pitches 7-point opposition proposal. Democrats praise ‘fired up’ Clinton after speech.

Taking aim at President Clinton’s call for universal health care, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) charged Tuesday that the Administration’s plan would produce more taxes and government control while reducing quality and limiting choice of doctors.

Dole, giving the official Republican response to Clinton’s State of the Union Address, called instead for action on “common sense solutions” that would stop well short of the President’s program of guaranteed coverage for all citizens.

He rejected Clinton’s argument that the nation faces a crisis in health care, adding: “But we will have a crisis if we take the President’s medicine--a massive overdose of government control.”

The response set out the battle lines for what will be the major clash of the congressional session. The Administration’s comprehensive health package, which makes significant changes in the current system, will compete with a major plan by opponents, which advocates modest adjustments without changing the roles of government, insurance companies and the medical Establishment.

The White House is banking on the conclusion that people are unsettled enough about health costs and their medical security to take on the larger overhaul; Republicans and many conservatives believe that people, even if initially intrigued, will become more skeptical about a big government solution.

Dole charged that Clinton’s program would cost $1 trillion more over six years than it would generate in revenues.

Inside the House chamber where the President spoke. Democrats cheered lustily when Clinton outlined his approach to health care while Republicans sat on their hands. Afterward, when Dole received his television time, the Republican leader unleashed his frontal attack using a complicated chart to buttress his argument.

“The President’s idea is to put a mountain of bureaucrats between you and your doctor,” Dole asserted. “We can fix our most pressing problems without performing a triple-bypass operation on our health care system.”

Dole outlined a seven-point program that he said would guarantee continued coverage for everyone with health insurance and bar denials of coverage for pre-existing conditions or a serious illness.

This program would help uninsured low-income Americans pay for health care through tax credits or vouchers, he said, while individuals who buy their own insurance would get a 100% tax deduction.

Even before Clinton spoke, the House Republican Policy Committee denounced his health care plan with these words: “Only in ivory tower isolation could academic ideologues create a plan to take over 14% of the economy, cripple job creation, hinder technological and pharmaceutical breakthroughs and ration health care.”

Democrats, however, were energized by Clinton’s emotional address.

“He was fired up tonight,’ said Rep. Dan Glickman (D-Kan.). As for the chances of doing what the President wants, Glickman said: “It’s not going to be a bed of roses or a piece of cake, but we can get it done.”

Senate Republican Whip Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), however, added a somber note. “The problem is, I don’t know how we’re going to pay for all of this.”

Both Republicans and Democrats leaped to their feet, applauding and cheering, when the President endorsed legislation to lock up three-time violent offenders for life. Even Dole praised the President for talking tough about crime but asked: “Will he act on it?”

Dole told his audience that Republicans were outnumbered by Democrats in both the House and Senate.

“So when the President spoke tonight, he knew that whatever he really wants, he stands a good chance of getting, because most Democrats will vote with him,” Dole said.

But Dole questioned Clinton’s commitment to tough crime legislation and welfare reform. And he challenged the President on defense spending.

“The one place the President has cut (the budget) drastically is precisely the wrong place: national security--slashed to the lowest levels since before Pearl Harbor,” Dole asserted. “History tells us, and many of us know firsthand, that America cannot afford to have a hollow military.”