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‘The time for determined action has come and I hope the administration will make clear to the Iranians and our European allies that a nuclear weapon in the hands of Iranian leaders is unacceptable to the United States’

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Friday on the Iranian nuclear program:

“The disclosure of the covert Iranian enrichment facility at Qom makes clear that the international community and the United States Senate should, at a minimum, enact the strictest sanctions on the importation of refined petroleum products by Iran. The Iranian regime must allow inspectors to examine the covert facility, answer all questions of the International Atomic Energy Agency concerning its weapons program and freeze any further enrichment activity. They’ve relied on denial and deception for years while advancing their nuclear program. But the time for determined action has come and I hope the administration will make clear to the Iranians and our European allies that a nuclear weapon in the hands of Iranian leaders is unacceptable to the United States.”

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‘Americans have concerns about what they’re hearing, and they’re being told to shut up, sit down, and take the health care we give you. This is the kind of thing they’re protesting and speaking out against across the country. And over the last few months, Congress hasn’t given them any reason to believe that their concerns aren’t exactly right’

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Friday regarding the importance of getting it right on health care reform:

“Senators are still hashing the details of the Democrat health care proposal that they plan to bring to the floor, and it isn’t getting any better.

“Americans wanted us to work together on reforms that improve the system we have. What they’re getting instead is a bill that creates an entirely different system in which government plays a bigger and bigger role in people’s health care decisions. They’re slapping this plan together as quickly as possible, and then they’re going to force it on the American people whether they like it or not. That’s what is going on this week in the hearing room of the Finance Committee.

“Supporters of this bill are watching the clock. They know the longer it sits out there, the more Americans will oppose this trillion dollar experiment that cuts Medicare, raises taxes, and threatens the health care choices that millions of Americans now enjoy. That’s why they struck down a common-sense amendment this week that would have given the American people 72 hours to look at the details of this legislation.

“They’re rushing it through, hoping no one gets to see the fine print. Why else would they deny this 72-hour amendment that gives people the time they need to read a 1,000 page bill? Why else would they be dismissing anyone who raises a peep of opposition? Why else would they be asking people to forward fishy emails to the White House? And why else would the administration order an investigation into a private company for telling its clients the truth about what this legislation would mean for them?

“More and more, it seem like supporters of this legislation just don’t believe that the American people know what’s best for themselves, so they want to keep them in the dark about the details. But that’s not the way Democracy works. And that’s why Republicans sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services yesterday calling on the HHS Secretary to rescind the gag order that it placed on companies that want to tell seniors how health care legislation will affect them. Seniors deserve to know what’s in this bill, and insurers should be free to tell them.

“But until that gag rule is lifted, we’ll tell seniors ourselves, because it hits them hard.

“It cuts services that millions of seniors currently enjoy. It could force seniors off the plans they have with nearly $140 billion in cuts to one popular Medicare plan; it calls for nearly $120 billion in Medicare cuts for hospitals that care for seniors; more than $40 billion in cuts to home health agencies; and nearly $8 billion in cuts to Hospice care.

“Everyone agrees Medicare needs reform. This isn’t reform. Lawmakers want to use Medicare as a piggy bank to pay for their experiment, and seniors are going to suffer for it. The response we keep getting from the administration is that hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare won’t affect services. Who can blame seniors for scratching their heads over that one? How do you cut half a trillion dollars from something without anybody noticing the difference? Seniors, rightly, just aren’t buying it.

“Americans want reform. They want lower costs. They want greater access for people without insurance. And they want Congress to deliver common-sense solutions to all these problems. What they’re getting instead is a trillion dollar experiment that cuts Medicare, raises taxes, and threatens the health care options that millions of Americans now enjoy. And they’re being told it all has to be done as fast as possible to meet some artificial deadline that no one can explain.

“Americans want us to slow down, and Congress is putting its foot on the accelerator. Americans want to know what this bill would mean for them, and Congress won’t let them read it before a vote — won’t even allow them 72 hours to look over the details of a 1,000 page piece of legislation that will affect one of the most significant aspects of their lives. Americans have concerns about what they’re hearing, and they’re being told to shut up, sit down, and take the health care we give you.

“This is precisely the kind of condescending attitude from lawmakers in Washington that ordinary Americans are tired of. This is the kind of thing they’re protesting and speaking out against across the country. And over the last few months, Congress hasn’t given them any reason to believe that their concerns aren’t exactly right.”

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WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on the Fox News program ‘Your World with Neil Cavuto’ Thursday afternoon regarding the administration’s gag order against private companies communicating with seniors about legislation before Congress. The following are excerpts from the interview:

On the Republican letter to HHS about the gag order: “I sent a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services signed by the Republican Leadership. They have 10 vacancies of people they are trying to get appointed to the administration. None of those people will get through the Senate easily until they lift the gag order. None of these people make it through the Senate without extensive debate until they lift the gag order and allow the First Amendment to function for everyone in this country, including people who just happen to be doing business with the federal government.”

On cuts to Medicare: “I think the Democratic majority is undeterred by the facts. The facts are that they are trying to cut Medicare. They certainly are cutting Medicare Advantage as well they are going to have a $500 billion cut in Medicare over the next 10 years. They are acting like they are not. Nobody believes that the director of the CBO has illustrated what they are doing. It is astonishing.”

On the Democrats’ rush and spend mentality: “It is consistent with the way they have been operating. They voted down an amendment on a party-line vote that would have required the bill to be on the internet for 72 hours before everybody votes. They do not want anybody to read this. They want to jam it through, reorganize one sixth of the economy on a straight party-line vote before anybody figures out what they are doing.”

“I am not afraid of that at all. We should do the right thing, not the wrong thing. We should not do it before anybody can read it. This whole idea is to deceive the American people, jam this through the congress, have it signed by the president, and call it a victory. If they do that, it will be the biggest issue in the 2010 election, I can assure you.”

On what Americans want for health care reform: “We will say, on paper, there are 60 Democrats. That should be enough to pass it. There is a lot of anxiety on the Democratic side. People are very nervous about this. They are hearing from seniors, particularly seniors who are on the Medicare Advantage program. They are hearing from individuals who do not want their taxes raised. This is a very controversial proposal. It is not the way we should go to reform health care. We should be targeting job losses, equalizing the tax code to make all health insurance deductible for everyone, regardless of whether you work for a company that provides it, incentivizing well as programs.”

On the importance of getting it right: “I want to go to a signing ceremony. This is about a very important issue. It is about getting it right. We have to target cost and access, which are the two biggest problems. We do not need the government taking over one sixth of our economy. It is an enormous percentage of our country.”

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Recent Press Releases

McConnell: ‘Time for Determined Action Has Come’ on Iran’s Nuclear Aims

September 25, 2009

McConnell: Listen to Americans on Health Care

September 25, 2009

McConnell on Fox Calls on Administration to Lift Federal Gag Order

September 24, 2009