Bob Bennett, Orrin Hatch hurl attacks on health bill

Utah's two GOP senators, not surprisingly, hate Senate Democrats' final health-care proposal.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, attacked it in national media outlets, many of which quoted him saying the upcoming debate on it will "be a holy war."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., scheduled an initial test vote for Saturday evening. A 60-vote majority is required to advance the bill toward full debate, expected to begin after Thanksgiving, according to the Associated Press.

Hatch told Fox News on Thursday, "This is a lousy bill that is going to cost American taxpayers like mad for the rest of their lives if they happen to pass it. … I hope the American people rebel."

He said it would cost $2.5 trillion over 10 years, cut Medicare by $464.6 billion, hike taxes by $493.6 billion and use "accounting gimmicks that would put an Enron executive to shame."

The 2,074-page bill, he said, is longer than Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace."

Hatch also complained that the bill would cover abortion.

"We should not be saddling the taxpayers to pay for abortions," he said.

The Democratic National Committee issued a press release criticizing Hatch's attacks, saying he is spreading "false propaganda about the Senate health care bill in an attempt to improve the Republican Party's political fortunes."

Meanwhile, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said, "The Democrats' plan … will raise taxes, increase premiums, add to the national debt and slash Medicare. That's not the reform Americans want."

He called the bill "nothing but smoke and mirrors. Senate Democrats praise the bill they wrote behind closed doors saying it will cut costs and lead to savings, but the math doesn't add up."

Bennett added, "The fundamental motivation for reforming the health-care system is to cut the escalating costs and this bill fails to do that."

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