McConnell ‘Sure Hopes’ Democrats' Health Care Reform Push Is Dead

Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown’s victory Tuesday night could kill Democrats’ chances of completing their months-long effort to reform the health care system, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell seems just fine with that.

When asked at a press conference Wednesday whether he believed if Brown’s long-shot victory meant the legislation in its current form was dead, McConnell replied “I sure hope so.”

“This was in many ways a national referendum, principally on the major issue we’re wrestling with here in the Congress,” the Kentucky Senator explained.

According to McConnell, Brown’s victory could also impede a number of other items on the majority party’s agenda, including climate change legislation.

“There is minimal enthusiasm, to put it mildly, for cap and trade,” McConnell said, but noted that the decision to pursue climate policy would ultimately be left with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

McConnell expressed confidence that neither Democrats in the Massachusetts state legislature or the U.S. Senate will make any moves to pass the legislation prior to Brown being sworn-in, but conceded that the House could still adopt the Senate’s version of the legislation as-is, and thus pass reform.

“I can’t speak for the House,” McConnell said. “There has been discussion on the House side.”

Gordon Brown: “With faith in the future, We can build tomorrow today”

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

The Rt. Hon Gordon Brown, M.P., Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, received several standing ovations and cheers today as he delivered his first address to the 111th Congress.

Gordon Brown is the fifth United Kingdom Prime Minister to jointly address both the Senate and House of Representatives in the U.S. Capitol.

The Prime Minister stated that the rest of the world “needs” and “wants to work” with America during this time of economic instability. “America knows from its history that its reach goes far beyond its geography,” Brown said.

Brown received cheers when talking about a need, for the whole world to work together on tackling the economic crisis.

Brown said: “We should seize this moment - because never before have I seen a world so willing to come together. Never before has this been more needed. And never before have the benefits of unity been so far reaching.”

Adding to this sense of the need for unity and working together, Brown said: “Let me say that you now have the most pro-American European leadership in living memory. A leadership that wants to cooperate more closely together, in order to cooperate more closely with you. There is no old Europe, no new Europe, there is only your friend Europe.”

Addressing the war on terror, Brown stated: “Let me promise you our continued support to ensure there is no hiding place for terrorists, no safe haven for terrorism. You should be proud that in the hard years since 2001 you have shown that while terrorists may destroy buildings and even, tragically, lives, they have not, and will not ever, destroy the American spirit.”

Brown paid tribute to the lost lives of American soldiers who have died protecting their country. Brown said: “Whenever a young American soldier, or marine, sailor or airman is killed in conflict anywhere in the world, we, the people of Britain, grieve with you.”

Brown also paid tribute to Senator Edward Kennedy who received an honorary knighthood for Her Majesty the Queen on March, 3, this year for his work in the Northern Ireland peace process.

Prime Minister Brown concluded by discussing the need to help those in the poorest nations of Africa facing torture. He also commented on the fight involving climate change.

Obama, Brown Weigh Financial Overhaul

The latest incarnation of the “special relationship” between the United States and Great Britain was on display Tuesday, as President Obama welcomed British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the White House for a two-day visit.

Obama said ties between Washington and London were strong and would stay that way, calling it “a
a bond that will not break.” He said it was critical to the security and economic well being of both nations.

For his part, Brown said “It’s a partnership of purpose that is driven forward now by the need for us all to work together in unity to deal with the world economic problems.”

Those problems – which have engulfed the global economy – dominated the meeting between the two men, their first since Obama’s inauguration. White House officials said the two leaders have begun to outline a new set of financial regulations that they hope will help stabilize the global economy. Brown, in fact, has called for a new Bretton Woods agreement, referring to the 1944 conference that established global monetary and financial order after World War II.

The meeting laid the stage for next month’s Group of 20 Summit meeting, which Brown will host in London. The G20 is comprised of financial ministers and central bankers from 19 countries and the European Union.

STRAINED TIES DENIED

Reports the two men would hold a formal joint news conference were unfounded, causing some correspondents to wonder if somehow Brown was being slighted – pointing out that President Bush always held news conferences with Brown and his predecessor, Tony Blair. A top White House aide denied it, and Obama appeared to address the issue directly saying “I’d like to think our relationship is terrific.”

RUSSIA AND IRAN

Meantime, Obama knocked down a New York Times report saying he had offered an explicit deal to Russia in which the United States would halt the deployment of an anti-missile shield in Poland in return for Kremlin help in getting Iran to stop its “commitment to nuclear weapons."

Obama admitted sending Russian President Dimitri Medvedev a letter, but said the Times “didn’t accurately characterize” it.

The president said the letter, which was “very lengthy,” dealt with a broad range of issues of concern to both Washington and Moscow, including Afghanistan, terrorism. He added there was nothing in the letter that he hadn’t spoken of publicly, “which is that the missile defense that we have talked about deploying is directed towards not Russia but Iran. That has always been the concern, that you had potentially a missile from Iran that threatened either the United States or Europe."

Russia has deep business ties with Iran, including Kremlin assistance in building two nuclear reactors for Iran at Bushehr; Moscow is also weighing the sale of its sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air missile to Tehran. A Russian newspaper reported in February that the sale is on hold, at least until the G20 meeting in London, when Obama and Medvedev will meet for the first time.


###