Mcdonnell says Democratic agenda, including health care effort, is too expensive

In his response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said the nation cannot afford the Democratic agenda, including health care, The Associated Press/Wall Street Journal reports. "McDonnell said Democratic policies are resulting in an unsustainable level of debt. He said Americans wanted affordable health care, but they didn't want the government to run it" (1/28).

Politico's Live Pulse blog published the section of McDonnell's rebuttal that addresses health care policy and highlights programs that the Republicans are supporting. He said, "Republicans in Congress have offered legislation to reform healthcare, without shifting Medicaid costs to the states, without cutting Medicare, and without raising your taxes." He went on to say that the GOP approach involves "common sense reforms," including putting an end to "frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals that drive up the cost of your healthcare" (Frates, 1/27).

Reuters reports that Republicans too were somewhat surprised at the message, they expected Obama to signal a start-over on health reform legislation. "Republican Senator John McCain said he was surprised Obama wanted to push ahead with a comprehensive overhaul. 'What I thought he would have said was "Look I hear the message from the Massachusetts election, now let's start over,"' McCain said. 'Frankly, that would've put the burden on us'" (Whitesides, 1/28).

Meanwhile, after the speech, some key Democrats also spoke about health reform, the Politico blog reports in a different posting. Discussing the likelihood that Congress would pass a comprehensive overhaul, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said, "I think right now it's less than 50-50. … It's very hard to see a path forward in the current arrangement" (Frates, 1/27).