Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele challenges President Barack Obama to “be honest” about the costs of health care reform in his upcoming press conference. (0:23)

 

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Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, says that health care legislation should not be passed before the August recess, as it will rashly affect too much of the U.S. economy without time for consideration. (0:31)

 

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Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, says that President Barack Obama is determined to transform the American way of life, and argues that his changes could have dangerous consequences for the economy and the nation. (1:01)

 

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Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says that it is unfair for the government to try to compete with the private sector, and argues that the Democrats’ health care reform proposal could limit private health insurance coverage. (0:44)

 

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By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele condemned proposals for health care reform advanced by the Democratic Party and criticized the legislative process that he says has excluded the GOP in an address at the National Press Club on Monday.

Steele called President Obama a “good man who cares deeply about this country, but he is determined…to transform it into something none of us would recognize.”

Steele argued that the primary affliction of the health care system in the U.S. is rising costs, noting that the U.S. spends over 15% of its GDP on health care, whereas comparable countries spend about 10% of their GDP with similar outcomes. He said that “our uninsured are a symptom of that cost problem.”

Steele claimed that both Republicans and Democrats would like to see the costs associated with private health care significantly reduced, but argued that “the “Democrats’ plan to save money will cost us more money,” and that their “plan to reduce health care costs will cost us trillions more in tax dollars.” He cited a report released by the Congressional Budget Office last Friday as evidence, and also said that this report did not account for the administrative costs associated with the legislation, which he said would be even more expensive.

Steele suggested some solutions to curb these rising costs. These suggestions included posting the prices and outcomes of various procedures online, simplifying health insurance contracts to promote competition, protecting doctors from frivolous lawsuits, enacting penalties against those who unethically profit from the health care system, encouraging small businesses to form health care plans and coops, cutting Washington bureaucrats out of the equation, allowing people to retain health insurance as they move from job to job, and enabling Americans to purchase health insurance from various states, regardless of their home state.

Steele also said that “much about our health care system is in very good shape,” and said that the Democratic proposals could “lead to a 119 million Americans being dumped out of their private coverage into a cheaper, government-run health care program.”

He said that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House respectively, “aren’t really doctors, they’re just trying to play one on Capitol Hill by experimenting with health care and insisting on a big government takeover.”

Steele criticized the legislative process, which he says is occurring too quickly for Congress to read the legislation at hand, saying that the Democrats are “determined to shove this bill through without permitting any meaningful scrutiny,” and are leaving Republican leadership out of the discussion. “The Democrats have no intention to have a bipartisan bill,” he added.

A series of thoughts and reactions from people attending the Republican National Committee Election Watch Party.

 

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Talk Radio News Service’s Ellen Ratner interviews actor Jon Voight as he stumps for Sen. John McCain for president. Voight questions Barack Obama’s voting record and his associations and also speaks about his new film. (8:40)

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Code Pink , an anti-war protest group, gathered outside the, Republican National Committee, to protest the war in Iraq. They said that since U.S. intervention in Iraq more than 4,000 troops have died in combat and the number continues to grow. Code Pink also said that the government spends $11 million an hour, everyday, to fund the Iraq war. Code Pink also called Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) President Bush’s best friend, because Pelosi approved $165 billion to fund the war in Iraq.

The Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law and the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security held a second hearing to address “Allegations of Selective Prosecution” and “The Erosion of Public Confidence in Our Federal Justice System.”
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At a subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary hearing on whether or not the Federal Justice System is engaging in selective prosecution, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) says that the “Republican National Committee is in big trouble” in several respects, and cites the 2002 phone jamming case involving Allen Raymond and James Tobin. (0:26)

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