The No. 2 Senate Democrat accused Republicans Wednesday of refusing to accept the finality of health care changes, a day after President Barack Obama signed the most sweeping medical system remake since Medicare.
"This is a political exercise for too many on the other side of the aisle," said Sen. Dick Durbin. "We're going to tell our people back home, 'It's time to govern. It's time to lead.' "
Durbin appeared Wednesday on a nationally broadcast interview show with South Carolina's Jim DeMint, who had said earlier this year he believed the health care overhaul would turn out to Obama's "Waterloo."
"America doesn't want a broken presidency," countered Durbin, D-Ill.
DeMint did not back down, saying "Americans are very angry," not only with the substance of the sweeping health care bill Obama signed into law Tuesday, but also with the process Democrats used to muscle it through Congress.
The pair swapped barbs on NBC's "Today" show as the Senate entered a second day of debate on a package of fixes to the new health law. These legislative adjustments were demanded by House Democrats as their price for passing the mammoth overhaul legislation that will extend coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans over the next decade.
"They're hoping that Americans don't notice this is another power grab," DeMint said of Democrats. "So we're going to bring these issues up." He accused Democrats of breaking "a lot of protocols" in the Senate and said he couldn't imagine Republicans working very hard to cooperate with Obama and Democrats on other issues.
As he put his signature on the bill at a celebrative White House ceremony, Obama declared "a new season in America" and hailed an accomplishment that had been denied to a line of presidents stretching back more than half a century.
The fix-it bill under consideration in the Senate eliminates a special Medicaid deal for Nebraska from the new law, softens a tax on insurance plans that was repugnant to organized labor, sweetens the pot with more expansive subsidies for lower-income people and offers more generous prescription drug coverage to seniors, among other changes. - ABC News Story
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