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Monday, March 15, 2010
Portman “prays” that health care plan fails
On a day that brought President Barack Obama to Ohio to make a final appeal for congressional approval of his health care overhaul plan, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Portman had a different message.
“I pray that it will not pass,” Portman said on Monday, March 15. His comments came in a meeting with members of the Dayton Daily News editorial board.
Portman said the plan that Obama is trying to get the Democratic-controlled Congress to approve would increase costs.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Portman. “…We’re going to have higher, not lower costs.”
Obama, who was in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville on Monday, campaigned for president on a pledge to work across party lines to bring the country together, said Portman, a former Cincinnati-area U.S. House member. Instead, the Democratic president has turned issues such as health care overhaul over to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democrats who control Congress, said Portman.
If elected, Portman promised to be a results-oriented senator who would work with Democrats to get things done.
“I don’t think our country has ever been in greater need of those kinds of efforts,” Portman, who also served as budget director and U.S. trade representative under former President George W. Bush, said.
Seth Bringman, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party, lashed back at Portman in an e-mail.
“While Rob Portman is praying for the status quo on health care, we will be praying for the millions of Americans without health insurance and the millions more middle class families who can’t afford rising health care costs,” said Bringman.
“We are closer than ever to health insurance reform that helps middle class families and small businesses, but the naysayers like Congressman Portman will do anything to stand up for the insurance companies at the expense of ordinary Ohioans.”
