September 2, 2008 - Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America
Senator Orrin Hatch talks tough
Senator Orrin Hatch (Utah) says that the proposed healthcare plan will cost between 1.5 and 2.5 trillion dollars and that funding it will inevitably lead to increases in taxes. He also addresses the President’s characterization of him as someone who was going to reach across the aisle to get healthcare “done.” He scoffs at the mention and reaffirms that Dems have yet to show him how they will level off the balance sheet past the first year of the proposal.
Hatch says he can’t see how they expect him to be on board when new taxes are on the table and unemployment is still on the rise and goes on to say that he doesn’t believe any Republicans will go astray. He thinks the real problems rest with the Democratic side of the aisle.
I have to say that I was worried about Senator Hatch when the President specifically mentioned him in his address to Congress, but his hard line in recent days has restored my faith – for now that is. If this is purely a clever move to appear adverse to the current bill so he can return at a later date as a savior in some bipartisan compromise, he will be back on the Bottom Ten for sure.
