Sen. Brown Warns Again Against Passing Health Bill

By The Associated Press
Mar 13, 2010, 6:35 AM
6 Comments

WASHINGTON — Newly arrived Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts accused President Obama and Democrats on Saturday of a “bitter, destructive and endless” drive to pass health overhaul legislation that Brown warned would be disastrous.

“An entire year has gone to waste,” Brown said in the weekly GOP radio and Internet address. “Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and many more jobs are in danger. Even now, the president still hasn’t gotten the message.

“Somehow, the greater the public opposition to the health care bill, the more determined they seem to force it on us anyway.”

Brown himself can claim responsibility for the Democrats’ failure to pass health overhaul legislation to date. They were on the verge of doing so before Brown claimed the late Edward M. Kennedy’s Senate seat in a special election upset in January, depriving Democrats of their filibuster-proof supermajority and throwing the health care effort into limbo.

It has been gradually revived, and Democrats are now pushing for final passage before Easter under complex Senate rules that would allow them to sidestep a Republican filibuster. Republicans in the House and Senate are unanimously opposed to the sweeping legislation, which would extend coverage to some 30 million uninsured Americans with a new mandate for nearly everyone to carry insurance.

Brown, himself, as a state senator in Massachusetts, voted in favor of the universal-coverage law in that state. The bill he supported in Massachusetts has a number of features in common with the Democrats’ legislation, including a mandate for nearly everyone to be covered.

But he campaigned on a promise to be the Republicans’ crucial 41st vote against Mr. Obama’s health plan, and said Saturday that his victory amounted to a message from voters that Washington should “get its priorities right.”

“We need to drop this whole scheme of federally controlled health care, start over, and work together on real reforms at the state level that will contain costs and won’t leave America trillions of dollars deeper in debt,” Brown said.

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mary

The big joke there is Scot Brown’s and his Republican colleagues in the senate are in a bitter and destructive battlle to stop Health Reform which is the shame of the free world today.

It’s time for American people to make the Republican Party history as its members have shown repeatedly they are un-able to respond to the needs of the electorate today.

Indeed, they helped caused the crisis we are in today with their falsehoods on Iraq and endless war there, plus their tax cuts to the rich & their trickle down economics which never trickled down to the folks on Main Street in a real sense. They are not more secure or indeed better off as a
result of the Republican Party but more insecure and with a whole lot less…

I am sure the people of New Orleans can attest to this as they found themselves runing for higher ground and their rooftops to avoid being swepted away by the waters from Levelee that couldn’t take their neglect and ill repairs anymore. Of course, the larger message is there for us too and the Republuican Party ….

If Obama and the democratic party is wise he will just push them out of the way and deliver on their promise…

That’s the change we voted for in 2008 , not more of the same and especially not them! Get that straight…..

Not all those old cranks who don’t take climate change seriously, nor believe in market regulations to ensure individuals act responsibly and are accountable with
peoples’ investments nor do they wish to provide all Americans with the health coverage they enjoy despite their existing conditions.

Plus they have kept us stuck in endless wars and their own state terrorism by occupying other countries and taking those peoles’ natural resources such as oil and minerals, etc. instead of promoting energy independence at home…
Peter Parsons

And do we hear the Repugs now talking about how MEDICARE funding is “threatened” by Obama’s alleged “reforms” to Health Scare? As if they didn’t oppose Medicare in the first place! The Dems should simply call it all a wash, DO THE RIGHT THING, and extend MEDICARE TO ALL. At least the proposal would expose the venality of both parties to “transparency” and the fact that they will throw citizens under the bus for the sake of their own Greed and/or “Health”. Or require Congress to have the same Health Care that they pass for the rest of us, no more, no less!
D Boover

Its long overdue!!!! There are people losing everything, everyday, because of lack of insurance. The only way we will be able to fix the system is to begin by passing the bill first.There a two major breakthroughs just by passing this. First, no one will be denied coverage because of preexisting conditions. Two,you won’t lose healthcare if you lose your job. Both are extremely important. Let’s get it started!
Dave

I find it ironic that Scott Brown and the Republicans are suddenly so concerned about the debt when W’s wars were much more significant, debt-wise. IF – and I don’t necessarily agree with this – you believe that health care will bankrupt the country, then you must come to the conclusion that the Democrats will bankrupt the country by serving human needs while the Republicans will bankrupt the country by starting wars. Since the economic system is fundamentally unsustainable, I vote for serving human needs and re-working our economic system. Unfortunately, it is going to take some leaders with real charisma and guts to tell us this truth – most Americans vote against anyone who tells them something they don’t want to hear.
Dean Romano

Scott Brown is an opportunist who doesn’t have the brains to get in out of the rain…and we elected him to the Senate. We’re screwed.
Dave

What do Scott Brown and the Republicans have to say about the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates of huge deficit reductions for this bill?