Klobuchar: “We had to get something done here.”
Democratic U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar defended the Senate health care bill on an early Sunday morning national talk show. Senate Democratic leadership announced a deal Saturday on a sweeping health care overhaul bill that would extend coverage to thirty million Americans and impose tougher regulations on health care companies to curb abusive practices. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Klobuchar responded to liberal critics, like Howard Dean, who want to kill the bill because it doesn't do enough.
"I disagree with him. I don't have that ability to just leave my Christmas presents and go home. We had to get something done here."
Klobuchar also said her focus was always on reducing costs.
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Klobuchar was also asked to defend an abortion provision in the Senate bill that would allow states to prohibit abortion coverage in plans offered by insurance companies in the proposed exchange (More from AP here). Klobuchar was asked, as a pro-choice Senator, if she's "offended" by the provision. Here's her response:
"I am offended that so many people don't have insurance in this country. I'm offended that kids get sick and their parents are running around trying to get treatment for them because their parents are kicked off of their insurance. I am offended by that. Would I have preferred the original Senate language? Of course I would."
The Senate is expected to pass the bill early tomorrow morning. It will then have to be reconciled with a bill that already passed the House. Republicans argue that both bills spend too much and don't contain health care costs.