WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today joined Kenny Bosak on the Memphis Morning News radio program to discuss the House of Representatives’ intent to pass the flawed Senate health care bill using special deals and procedural “schemes.”  Senator Wicker also expressed deep concern over the impact socialized medicine would have on our nation.  Below are some of the key excerpts from the interview: 

Health Care
On House leadership’s procedural “scheme” to pass the health care bill :
• “I served in the House for 13 years, and this really takes the cake when it comes to special schemes.  Basically what they’re saying is, you can vote on this Senate bill, send it to the president for his signature, and it will become law – and you really won’t have to take a vote actually on final passage of the bill.  I don’t think it’s going to fool anybody.”

• “The vote on the rules, which will be Sunday in the House of Representatives, it is the final vote.  And if the House of Representatives votes for this procedural rule, that is final passage of the Senate bill, and it will become the law of the land.”

On the schemes and deals needed to secure votes:
• “If this is such a good idea, it ought to be passing on the merits.  You shouldn’t need special deals, you shouldn’t need arm twisting, you shouldn’t need promises…If this is such a good idea, why are they using the special deeming scheme to mask this vote?  It ought to be voted up or down, and members ought to be proud of it, if it’s such good policy for the country.”

On the gap between the Democrats’ plan and public opinion:
•  “There are only about a third of the American people, 33 percent, maybe 35, 36 percent who think this is a good idea.  Unless there’s more support than that, the elected representatives of those people really ought to sit back and take heed.”

• “It just astonishes me that some of them are saying ‘we’re going to do what we think is best for these people’ even though our own constituents don’t think it’s best for them. It’s the height of arrogance.”
On the consequences of passage of a government takeover of health care:

• “The main thing I worry about is what this is going to do to the country. It is the most significant proposal toward socialized medicine…that I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

On the prospects for repealing the bill, if it passes:
• “I think we’ll probably have the votes next year in the House and the Senate to repeal this [if it passes] – but the president can veto that repeal bill. Because regardless of what happens in the congressional and Senate elections of November of 2010, Barack Obama is going to be President for at least the next two years.”

Listen to Senator Wicker’s full interview with Kenny Bosak here.

Click here to read Senator Wicker’s recent health care column that outlines his ideas for a step-by-step approach to health care reform.  

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