McConnell: 'Energy tax, gov't-run' health

by Mark Silva

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, calling the energy bill that cleared the House "a national energy tax,'' accuses the Democrats of driving up spending and taxes with everything from energy initiatives to their healthcare reforms.

"What they really have in mind... is to create a government-run plan after which there won't be any insurance companies,'' McConnell (R-Ky.) said of the Democratic healthcare reform agenda, in an appearance on FOX News Sunday.

"Right now we have a whole lot of private insurance companies and a whole lot of competition. That would eliminate that."

As for the energy bill that cleared the House narrowly -- with the help of eight Republicans in the House: "I don't think putting clamps on our economy when you know the Chinese and the Indians are not going to do it is a good idea.

"Why not develop technology to burn coal cleanly and build new nuclear power plants? The French, for example, produce 85 percent of their power from nuclear plants. They don't have a CO2 emission problem."

McConnell addressed these and other issues today:

On Republican plans for health care reform:

"Let's equalize tax treatment, target prevention and wellness, do something about medical malpractice junk lawsuits against doctors and hospitals that drive up the cost of health care. All of those things could be achieved on a broad bipartisan basis and not wreck the finest health care system in the world."

"It strikes us that a better way to go is to deal with the equalization in the tax code. For example, right now, a company that provides health care for its employees can deduct that -- those premiums on its corporate tax return, but if you're an individual buying health care, it's not deductible. That ought to be equalized. Prevention--we've all heard about what the Safeway company has done to target obesity, smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and lack of exercise. They have capped their insurance premiums by aggressively incentivizing wellness.

"These programs that are being kicked around on Capitol Hill would actually prevent that kind of thing. So there's much to be done, Bret, but not in the direction I think the administration's trying to take this.''

On a government-run health plan:

"What they really have in mind, Bret, is to create a government-run plan after which there won't be any insurance companies. Right now we have a whole lot of private insurance companies and a whole lot of competition. That would eliminate that."

"We have some problems with access and with cost, which can -- addressed without wrecking the best health care system in the world."

"So all of this in an effort to have a massive takeover of [one sixth] of our economy."

"I think there are a lot of Democrats who are uncomfortable with the government option, the government plan. We've had three or four Democrats who have spoken out against it. They're being hammered in their states by left-wing groups. I think it is making them even more resistant to this bad idea that the government should take over the insurance business. ''

On Democrat plans for the costs of health care:

And then when you get to the question of paying for it, it appears as if they want to pay for it on the backs of seniors through Medicare cuts and raising taxes."

"But the real question is, do you want to do something that is so comprehensive that requires this kind of cuts to Medicare and to seniors and to -- all of these tax increases?"

On the "national energy tax:"

"The president himself said last year you'd -- it will lead to skyrocketing electricity increases. Think of it as a light switch tax. I think the president's right. I think it's going to lead to significant increases in electricity across America in an effort to try to deal with a global problem...The way to get at it is to build more nuclear power plants which don't have a CO2 emission problem and to develop the kind of technology to burn coal cleanly."

"I don't think sending the cost of electricity up is a god idea. It's going to cost jobs. Obviously it will. It's going to increase the business of living in America. We all depend on electricity. Think of it every time you turn your light switch on."

"I don't think putting clamps on our economy when you know the Chinese and the Indians are not going to do it is a good idea. Why not develop technology to burn coal cleanly and build new nuclear power plants? The French, for example, produce 85 percent of their power from nuclear plants. They don't have a CO2 emission problem."

On the nomination of Judge Sotomayor:

"Well, you know, the Democrats filibustered, seven times, a Hispanic-American nominee named Miguel Estrada during the Bush administration. I think we ought to judge these nominees on their merits, not their ethnicity or gender.

"And with regard to Judge Sotomayor, I think the key is just to finish the job. For example, just a day or so ago, we discovered that there are 300 boxes of additional material that has just been discovered from her time working with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund.

"The committee needs to have access to that material and time to work through it so we don't -- so we know all the facts before we vote on a person who's up for a lifetime job."

On immigration:

"[W]e need to move forward on border security. I think we've made some progress in securing the border. But the war -- the drug lord war over on the Mexican border -- on the Mexican side of the border going along certainly complicates everything. We're open to looking at immigration reform. We've tried it in the past. It's very tough."