Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana said this morning at an
American Spectator and Americans for Tax Reform press breakfast
that House Republicans will "overwhelmingly" oppose any kind of
Democrat-proposed health care reform that would lead to
government-run health insurance. He mentioned that although he
hadn't yet seen the Baucus plan, announced this morning, the lack
of a public option doesn't assuage his fears. Regarding co-ops in
place of a public option, he claimed, "at the end of the day
you're talking about government-run health insurance."
"The minute Uncle Sam opens the door to government insurance,"
Pence explained, "millions of people from small business are
going to run to it." He predicted that in plan with a public
option or with state- or locally-run health co-ops, millions of
workers would lose their private insurance because their
businesses would cancel their insurance.
During the breakfast, Pence also defended Joe Wilson, the South
Carolina congressman officially censured by the House of
Representatives yesterday for his "you lie" comment during
President Obama's health care speech. Pence acknowledged Wilson's
mistake and commended him for apologizing, but he also noted that
Wilson was reacting to a "harshly partisan speech" from Obama.
Pence cited Proverbs 15:1 -- "a harsh word stirs up anger" -- in
explaining Wilson's outburst. He stated that Wilson's comment in
fact did "serve the national interest" by calling attention to
the fact that "what the president said from the podium was not
true."
"People really were glad that he brought the subject up, no
matter how...indelicately," Pence concluded.
