Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is warning Republicans that Democrats will indeed pull that trigger eventually if they get their way on the public option in health reform.
In a speech he'll deliver later this afternoon as a prebuttal to President Obama's prime time address, McConnell dismisses the trigger idea as a gimmick that still gives Democrats a chance to eventually push through a "government takeover" of health care.
“A government takeover on the installment plan — or a ‘trigger’ as some are calling it — is still a government takeover," McConnell will say in his Senate speech. "It’s a bad idea now. It’ll be a bad idea whenever the trigger kicks in. Proponents of a trigger say that it might not be needed.
"But you can be sure of this: if Democrats are in charge, they’ll pull the trigger at some point. Let’s be honest. Letting Democrats decide whether to pull the trigger on government-run health care is like asking the pitcher, not the umpire, to call the balls and strikes."
McConnell's speech is also designed to draw a clear line of reasoning for the 40 Republicans in the Senate to oppose the health care proposals. Democrats have now put a ton of stock in luring Maine Republican Olympia Snowe to support some form of a public option -- with a trigger -- so that they can reach 60 votes.
McConnell, like many Republicans, are asking for a more incremental approach to health reform -- but he's still playing to his base in this speech, asking for an end to "junk lawsuits" and reforming medical malpractice laws. - Politico Story
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