GOP Needs Six Weeks To Debate Health Care Bill That All Republicans Will Oppose

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) argued last Sunday that Republicans deserve at least six additional weeks to consider health care reform before letting the bill come to a vote. But on Friday, his top lieutenant said the entire GOP has already made up its mind on the legislation.

Appearing on Fox News Friday morning, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) insisted that "every single Republican will oppose" even debating health care reform because "they know it will only get worse."

"None of the things that they like about the bill will get better; and the things they object to would take 60 votes to change, and they know they're not going to get 60 votes to amend the bill to their liking," said Kyl, the minority whip in the Senate.

The opposition isn't unexpected. For some time it's been clear that Democrats would be getting either one (Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine) or no Republican Senate votes on health care legislation. But Kyl's prophecy of across-the-board opposition does seem to undercut that other GOP tactic. Why do Senate Republicans need six weeks to debate and consider the legislation if they're already determined to vote against it?

"We know it's been in Harry Reid's office for six weeks and the other 99 senators haven't seen it," McConnell told "Fox News Sunday" last week. "I think we ought to at least have as much time for the other 99 senators and all of the American people to take a look at this bill as Majority Leader Reid has had."

And why, for that matter, are Senate Republicans complaining about a limited three-day window to read the legislation if they have already come to a final verdict on its contents?

"We're now going to have about 72 hours to figure this out," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), during a speech on the Senate floor on Friday. "But I know this much -- when a bill costs $2 billion a page and when it includes language like that, it's something that we should spend some time on. And this bill's being rushed, and it shouldn't be rushed."

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[mtrem]

12:58 PM on 03/17/2010

Every time I see him, I can't get beyond Mitch McConnel's double chin.....

[lvdragonlady]

02:46 PM on 11/23/2009

Ya'll can go sit in a flippin corner for six weeks and we would all be better off.

[mervr1]

10:40 AM on 11/23/2009

Can we please get rid of thees old white guys and women that only have their own self interests before the interests of the American people.

This country is in sad shape, not because of the people, but because of the politics played with it.

It's ironic that we're supposed to be the greatest country but have the worst healthcare system...Why?

Because our people elected politicians are nothing more than greedy corporate puppets for every industry except those for the betterment of the people who elected them.

They say we're a melting pot, but right now it looks like as if the country is just having a melt down.

[lvdragonlady]

02:47 PM on 11/23/2009

hear hear - vote all their old behinds out.......................time for some fresh faces that can think beyond the 1950's.

[Char59]

10:13 AM on 11/23/2009

They are just a bunch of old disgruntled men that should have already retired!

[TN60]

09:01 AM on 11/23/2009

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/NanceGreggs/536

We don't need six weeks to declare the inhuman old white men of the right wing nutter class that need to posture and preen in front of the cameras.

[Australian2]

08:24 AM on 11/23/2009

I do not support the GOP's endless obstructionism.

Having said that, I believe that a few weeks for uncertain Democrats to read the bill in detail - if only to assuage their fears - would be an excellent thing. I am, in principle, against legislation being rushed through without clear justification for such haste. In this case, a couple of weeks won't make a significant difference, so long as things keep moving.

Mind you, I believe that the GOP's "We haven't read it and we know we'll oppose it anyway" mentality is simply revealing their childishness and pathetic "If we can't have our way, then we'll make sure you get nothing!" mentality.

[jodieez]

02:56 AM on 11/23/2009

They did nothing when they were in power except tax breaks for the wealthy, donut hole in medicare, = big profits for big pharma., and a war in Iraq that cost a trillion dollars and is still going on.

Now they want to say "my bad" and expect us to just forget what they did and vote them into office so they can continue were they left off.

Face the facts people the rethuglican party is the party of the wealthy and they spend some of their considerable fortune convincing us, against our own best interests, let them lead us and make the rules for society.

If we want a better life we don't need rethuglicans telling us that the only road to happiness is joining their game and becoming wealthy, you know, THE AMERICAN DREAM!

Lets get rid of the ME generation and replace it with the WE generation

[TParrish]

10:38 AM on 12/10/2009

Actually, they have never said the "My Bad" thing. To admit that something was done wrong and to then try to continue to do that same thing would be insane. Making the same mistake over and over, expecting different results. No, they LIKED the results. Starve the government, and bleed the government, and eventually you kill the government. As was said by a Republican pundit, you make it small enough to drag into a bathtub and drown it.

Make no mistake. The position we were in in early January is exactly where the Republican Party wanted to put us. Well, almost. We didn't quite go bankrupt. That's what they actually wanted. Now that it did not happen, they are coming out in favor of fiscal responsibility. They are Buster keaton and Charlie Chaplin in the silent movies, breaking things, then sticking their hands in their pockets and strolling away looking at the sky and whistling.

[punknoir]

10:51 PM on 11/22/2009

The corner these Republican idiots paint themselves into just keeps getting smaller and smaller. The really sad thing is that so many otherwise normal people will follow them into that corner. They have become the Party of Nothing. They stand for Nothing, stupidly and blindly firm against anything that opposes or contradicts their adherence to and worship of Nothingness.
As we said in high school, "These guys could F%$& up a rock fight."

[pbnyc59]

03:32 PM on 11/22/2009

Make America safe again, spay and castrate all Republicans.

[fcsakes]

01:31 PM on 11/22/2009

How about six minutes, you corrupt piece of obstructionist slag?

[cholden]

01:13 PM on 11/22/2009

Go Dems Go! Kick the Republicans to the side of the road like so much trash and get on with this. You have the majority! Don't let the American people down! We need health care reform now! In all my 60+ years I've never seen such obstructionism purely in their own self-interest and those of their coporate p*mps. We'll deal with the Republicans in 2010.

[katekid]

10:59 AM on 11/22/2009

Has anyone asked Lieberman,
how he can support USA's subsidy
of Israel's PUBLIC health care system
and oppose same for Americans?

[Jahbundance]

12:44 PM on 11/22/2009

Now that is a good question!!!!

[Vetinari]

10:24 AM on 11/22/2009

Do the gop need six weeks to be able to say 'no'?

I know they are proudly and rabidly anti-intellectual, but this takes the cake...

[cholden]

01:15 PM on 11/22/2009

You'll need to forgive them....they are just a tad slow on the uptake. Not the sharpest tools in the shed.

[rf dude]

10:14 AM on 11/22/2009

Fr. Kyle and Sister Mary McConnell (he's a Mitch) have spoken...

[1murillo]

09:30 AM on 11/22/2009

The GOP alternative bill is extremely different than anything that's passed (the House or Senate).
Republicans will complain about a bill's length and also respond with a zero page bill - if long is bad than nothing is great must be their thinking.