The Senate's top Republican on Sunday railed against the Democrat-led health reform effort, tying it to a surging Republican candidate in Massachusetts while bashing a deal made between the White House, organized labor and congressional leaders.
“We're going to do everything we can to defeat this bill,” Senate Minority Leaders Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said on Fox News this morning.
Next week, McConnell could move closer to getting his wish.
Voters in Massachusetts go to the polls on Tuesday to elect a senator to fill the seat held for decades by liberal Edward Kennedy,
While polls vary in the commonwealth’s race, it’s clear that Scott Brown, a Republican, has closed what was once a double-digit percentage lead once held by Martha Coakley the state’s attorney general.
“It is perfectly clear, if it’s unpopular in Massachusetts, it’s unpopular everywhere,” he said. “Regardless of who wins, we have here, in effect, a referendum on this national healthcare bill.”
As is, Democrats have a razor thing margin in the Senate. A loss in the Bay State would strip them of the 60-votes needed to overcome a filibuster and could dramatically reshape an effort to pass a reform package in the next couple of weeks.
On Friday, Rep. Barney Frank, a longtime congressman from Massachusetts, told reporters that a Republican win would prove apocalyptic to passing a broad overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system.
“If Scott Brown wins, it’ll kill the health bill,” he told the Associated Press.
McConnell also attacked a deal negotiated out between organized labor groups, the White House and House and Senate leaders that exempts them from having their higher-end health plans taxed.
“The whole proposal is rife with special deals,” he said, speaking of the overall bill. “This is just another special deal for favored constituents.”
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