2009-11-12

Cornyn discusses healthcare, deficit on ‘Meet the Press’

Contributed

US Senator John Cornyn appeared on “Meet the Press,” Sunday, Oct. 25. For readers who missed the program, the following highlights were excerpted from the interview.

• Democrats divided on healthcare overhaul:
“Senate Majority Leader (Harry Read) is a good vote counter, but I think even he was surprised when 13 Democrats voted with Republicans and rejected $300 billion in additional red ink in the form of the Medicare reimbursements for doctors that occurred last week,” Cornyn said.

“I think the majority leader recognizes he has big problems keeping Democrats together, much less attracting Republicans to vote for it. We have maxed out our credit card as a government. We are at a $12 trillion debt limit. For the second time in the Obama Administration, the Democrats are going to ask Congress to vote to increase the debt limit.”

• High costs Of Democrats’ proposals and refusal to reduce premiums:
According to Cornyn, the $1.1 trillion in stimulus spending, 43 cents out of every dollar being spent is essentially borrowed money. Additionally, he felt the stimulus contains a healthcare proposal that won’t actually reduce insurance premiums.
Instead, it will increase premiums for people who currently have insurance and will impose a tax on middle-class taxpayers.
He also said the stimulus is predicated on phony assumptions that will never occur – like $500 billion in Medicare cuts.
“This is a bad formula. We could, I think, create good competition if people were allowed to purchase insurance policies in other states rather than create a public option, which is a Trojan Horse for a single-payer system.”

• Passing real entitlement reform and addressing growing deficits:
“I hope the Democrats will join with us to pass real entitlement reform and to deal with these growing deficits,” Cornyn said. He added that Senators Kent Conrad and Judd Gregg have a proposal, along with one written by Cornyn and Senator Diane Feinstein that 10 moderate Democrats referenced in a letter sent to Reid last week. They wrote, “Don’t count on us as an automatic vote for raising the debt ceiling unless you deal with these deficits.”

• President Obama’s indecision on Afghanistan:
“Americans are fighting and dying in Afghanistan today as they have for the last seven years,” Cornyn said. “I don’t understand for a president who said this is a war of necessity to now question the recommendation of lead commander General Stanley A. McChrystal on resourcing the war in order to be successful.”

• TARP & executive pay:
According to Cornyn, there is growing apprehension at government intervention all across the spectrum. “The companies certainly will find some other alternative means to compensate their executives to keep them there,” he said. “I don’t think we should for a minute think this substitutes for real regulatory reform, which is a debate that Congress has not begun in earnest waiting until after the health care debate is concluded.”