Senate Republicans are seeking healthcare legislation that will return power to the states and remove it from Washington in order to bring premium costs under control, Sen. John Barrasso said Wednesday.
He also dismissed Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders' call to extend Medicare to all, telling Fox News' "America's Newsroom" it is bad for taxpayers.
"There are too many people around the country paying too much for healthcare, and have limited opportunities to go to the doctor that they choose," the Wyoming Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program.
"I support what we're doing here in terms of getting the money and decisions back to the states so people can make individual choices."
Sanders' plan, which the former Democratic presidential candidate announced Wednesday, is "a nice slogan," said Barrasso.
"When you get down to the nuts and bolts and details, you see it's bad for the American taxpayer and bad for families across the country," said Barrasso
Barrasso said Republicans are continuing to work with members of Congress, including Democrats, so there are bipartisan discussions going on, but many Democrats continue to disagree on the issues.
"Sen. [Chuck] Schumer thinks if you give decisions back to states and back to people, it takes the power out of Washington, and boy, the Democrats don't like that," said Barrasso.
Senators have a deadline of Sept. 30 to determine the fate of Obamacare, noted show host Bill Hemmer, but Barrasso said Republicans are continuing to work every way they can.
"I want to repeal the whole thing," he said. "I voted for that as did many, many Republicans in the bipartisan hearings and discussions. Those are working on trying to give flexibility to states, so that people can buy the insurance that they want which will also lower the costs if they don't have to pay for all of these mandates that are coming out of Washington as to what insurance has to cover."
The deadline, he continued, has to do with whether the vote can be passed with 50 votes or if it must go to 60.
Sanders approach, he continued, is becoming the "litmus test for the liberal left."
"All Democratic candidates looking to line up for the presidential run in 2020 have jumped onto this complete government takeover of healthcare, which is going to result in much-higher taxes and a lot fewer choices for the Americans, for patients and people across the country," said Barrasso.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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