Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is still committed to repealing the Affordable Care Act; he just thinks it might be tough to pull off.
During an appearance Monday at Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown, Ky., McConnell admitted that the prospect of repealing “Obamacare” could be politically impractical, WHAS-TV reports.
“If you thought it was a good idea for the federal government to go in this direction, I’d say the odds are still on your side,” McConnell told workers at the hospital, “because it’s a lot harder to undo something than it is to stop it in the first place.”
McConnell railed against the the Affordable Care Act on Fox News Sunday this week, decrying the new law as a means to transform “the American health care system into a western European system.” But when host Chris Wallace pressed the Republican Senate leader on how his party would cover the roughly 30 million uninsured Americans, McConnell downplayed the concern.
“That is not the issue,” McConnell told Wallace. “The question is how can you go go step by step to improve the American health care system. It is already the finest health care system in the world.”
McConnell’s comments to his Kentucky constituents on Monday may splash water on what has been a conservative dream since Congressional Democrats passed the overhaul of the health care system in 2010. The National Journal reports that Mitt Romney could begin to tone down his campaign-long pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act on day one if elected and a new poll suggests that the majority of Americans would like opponents of the law to move on. Nevertheless, McConnell insisted that undoing the law remains a “mega issue” for his side.
“I don’t think there is any bigger issue in the fall election except for the general effect of the economy,” McConnell said
Tom Kludt
Tom Kludt is a newswriter for TPM. A former research intern and polling fellow for TPM, he lives and works in New York City. Tom graduated summa cum laude from the University of South Dakota in May of 2010 with a B.A. in Political Science and History. He can be reached at Tom (at) talkingpointsmemo.com.
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