Senate

McConnell dismisses Medicare for All: Not while GOP controls Senate

by Jordain Carney - 04/10/19 8:09 PM ET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Wednesday that “Medicare for All” will not move in the Senate as long as Republicans control the chamber.

“Not as long as I’m majority leader. It ought to be Medicare for none. … You want to turn America into a socialist country this is the first step,” McConnell told Fox News’s Brett Baier.

Pointing to the current debate among the Democratic presidential candidates on the progressive proposal, he added that “full socialism” was “on display” as part the primary.

“I think what we’re seeing here is full socialism on display in the Democratic primaries for president,” McConnell said.

{mosads}McConnell’s comments come after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced his revamped “Medicare for All” legislation earlier Wednesday with the support of 14 Senate Democrats including four other presidential hopefuls. The bill would largely eliminate private insurance and institute a single-payer system managed by the government.

The bill has no chance of currently becoming law with Republicans in control of the Senate, where it would needs 60 votes along with President Trump’s signature. But it’s become a top punching bag for Republican lawmakers as an example of Democrats shifting to the left ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Major health care legislation is also unlikely in an era of divided government. Trump threw GOP lawmakers into a frenzy recently when he said during a closed-door lunch that he wanted them to craft legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare. He later backtracked saying it wouldn’t be taken up until 2021, after the presidential election.

“Well look we made that effort last Congress,” McConnell added on Wednesday. “Clearly the Democratic House is not going to pass it. So we’re not going to spend time in the Senate on things that have literally no chance of becoming law”

Tags Bernie Sanders Donald Trump Mitch McConnell