With Senate Democrats reportedly on the verge of a deal that could break their internal impasse over the shape of health care reform legislation, Republicans Thursday reiterated their call to start the process over from scratch.
Democrats are waiting for an independent estimate of costs before officially unveiling the details of the compromise.
However, as part of the deal, they have reportedly dropped the controversial "public option" from their proposal, scrapping the government run alternative to private insurance in favor of an expansion of Medicare and providing increased government oversight and negotiation power with private insurers.
Democrats hope that this compromise has the potential to unify the conservative and liberal wings of the caucus to achieve the 60 votes, 58 Democrats and two Democratic-leaning independents, needed to cut off the Republican filibuster of the bill.
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Thursday decried the reported outlines of the deal, saying that allowing Americans over 55 to buy in to Medicare would threaten the solvency of an already stressed program.
"They're watching in disbelief as Democrats float the idea of herding millions more into this near-bankrupt program as part of a backroom deal to force their plan for health care on the American people by Christmas," McConnell said, speaking on the Senate floor.
He added, "Every day it seems we hear new revelations about the secret conference room deliberations where Democrats are frantically working to get their sixty votes by Christmas. And every day we hear about some new idea they've come up with for creating a government plan by another name."
McConnell also said the idea of having the federal Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the health plans for federal employees and members of Congress, regulate insurance exchanges wouldn't be feasible.
"This is precisely the kind of approach Americans are tired of in Washington — and this is precisely the kind of health care plan Americans didn't want," he said. "Seniors thought they could expect lower costs. What they're getting instead is an assault on their Medicare."
He added, "Small business owners thought they could expect lower costs. What they're getting instead are higher taxes, stiff fines and costly mandates. Working Americans thought they'd get more efficiency, less fraud, cheaper rates. What they're getting instead are new bureaucracies and higher costs."
Noting that most Americans and businesses favor the concept of reform, McConnell said that the Democratic approach attempts to fix the problems in the wrong way.
"Businesses look at this bill and they see: Half a trillion dollars in new taxes; As many as 10 million employees at risk of losing their coverage [and a] crushing new mandate," he said. "This is not reform. This bill doesn't solve our problems — it spreads them."
He added, "Americans want reform. But this is not the one they asked for. This bill is fundamentally flawed, and it can't be fixed."
McConnell said that he believes the American people want the Congress to start over and address health reform in a fundamentally different way, adding that Republicans were prepared to prolong the debate as long as it takes to attempt to block the bill.
"Republicans are convinced there's nothing more important we could do than to stop this bill and start over with the kind of step-by-step reforms Americans really want," he said. "We have amendments. We want votes."
He added, "We're eager to continue this debate."
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.