INTERVIEW-McCain sees trouble for healthcare, climate bills
* Climate change bill "dead in the water" - McCain
* Says Democrats should redo costly healthcare bill
By Richard Cowan and Simon Denyer
WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - Two of President Barack Obama's top priorities -- healthcare reform and reducing global warming -- are in disarray on Capitol Hill, with no sign of bipartisan consensus, Senator John McCain said on Friday.
The Arizona Republican, who was defeated by Obama for the presidency last November, said in an interview with Reuters that climate change legislation "is just dead in the water. It's not got momentum."
Efforts to overhaul America's costly healthcare system need to begin anew after the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said a draft bill would cost $1 trillion and insure only 16 million of the 46 million uninsured people, McCain said.
"They just took a body blow," he said of Obama's Democrats. "Whether they recover from it or not, we will probably know in the next few days."
McCain had some stark advice to Democrats writing the legislation: "I think that they should start over."
Obama has staked huge political capital on revamping the healthcare system, with ballooning costs straining government finances, the economy and U.S. competitiveness.
He would like Congress to pass both initiatives this year before lawmakers become enmeshed in the 2010 mid-term elections.
McCain said he believed both issues needed to be tackled, but that the administration and Democratic lawmakers were going about them the wrong way, with proposals that could burden taxpayers, business and the economy.
The 72-year-old has been a leading voice for legislation to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
"Obviously, I believe that climate change is real. I believe we ought to act," McCain said.
A nearly 1,000-page climate change bill in the House of Representatives was nothing more than "a grab-bag of special interests for everybody," he said.
"Any bill that's...1,000 pages that should be four or five pages, in my view, it can't be good," McCain said, calling the legislation "a non-starter."
Especially in the Senate, Republican votes are likely to be needed to win passage, because some Democrats, especially from coal-producing states, are uncomfortable with the proposals.
NUCLEAR POWER
McCain said climate change legislation needed to promote nuclear power, which does not emit greenhouse gases but is expensive and poses safety challenges, adding the lack of such a provision "certainly would be an impediment" to his support.
McCain also is a member of one of two Senate committees writing healthcare reform, but said he opposed plans for the government to play a greater role in healthcare, as the costs become ever more apparent.
"The elephant in the room is how are you going to pay for it," he said, talking of the debate.
The leading voice in Congress for healthcare reform, Senator Edward Kennedy, has mostly been absent this year as he battles brain cancer. And that, McCain said, has undercut efforts to build consensus.
"The absence of Ted Kennedy is a very big factor that has brought us to where we are today," McCain said. "What Ted Kennedy usually does ... is that he sits down and negotiates and then you come to some kind of agreement."
Democrats are trying to avoid the debacle they suffered in 1993, when then President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary framed a plan to overhaul healthcare that went down in bitter defeat in Congress.
But for all the problems McCain saw for the healthcare and climate bills, he also acknowledged a White House that is "as adept and adroit as any" in U.S. history.
Noting Obama's success this year in winning passage of a Democratic budget, a $787 economic stimulus bill and expansion of a children healthcare program -- mostly amid Republican opposition, McCain said, "Success breeds success." (Additional reporting by Steve Holland, editing by Anthony Boadle)
* Says Democrats should redo costly healthcare bill
By Richard Cowan and Simon Denyer
WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - Two of President Barack Obama's top priorities -- healthcare reform and reducing global warming -- are in disarray on Capitol Hill, with no sign of bipartisan consensus, Senator John McCain said on Friday.
The Arizona Republican, who was defeated by Obama for the presidency last November, said in an interview with Reuters that climate change legislation "is just dead in the water. It's not got momentum."
Efforts to overhaul America's costly healthcare system need to begin anew after the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said a draft bill would cost $1 trillion and insure only 16 million of the 46 million uninsured people, McCain said.
"They just took a body blow," he said of Obama's Democrats. "Whether they recover from it or not, we will probably know in the next few days."
McCain had some stark advice to Democrats writing the legislation: "I think that they should start over."
Obama has staked huge political capital on revamping the healthcare system, with ballooning costs straining government finances, the economy and U.S. competitiveness.
He would like Congress to pass both initiatives this year before lawmakers become enmeshed in the 2010 mid-term elections.
McCain said he believed both issues needed to be tackled, but that the administration and Democratic lawmakers were going about them the wrong way, with proposals that could burden taxpayers, business and the economy.
The 72-year-old has been a leading voice for legislation to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
"Obviously, I believe that climate change is real. I believe we ought to act," McCain said.
A nearly 1,000-page climate change bill in the House of Representatives was nothing more than "a grab-bag of special interests for everybody," he said.
"Any bill that's...1,000 pages that should be four or five pages, in my view, it can't be good," McCain said, calling the legislation "a non-starter."
Especially in the Senate, Republican votes are likely to be needed to win passage, because some Democrats, especially from coal-producing states, are uncomfortable with the proposals.
NUCLEAR POWER
McCain said climate change legislation needed to promote nuclear power, which does not emit greenhouse gases but is expensive and poses safety challenges, adding the lack of such a provision "certainly would be an impediment" to his support.
McCain also is a member of one of two Senate committees writing healthcare reform, but said he opposed plans for the government to play a greater role in healthcare, as the costs become ever more apparent.
"The elephant in the room is how are you going to pay for it," he said, talking of the debate.
The leading voice in Congress for healthcare reform, Senator Edward Kennedy, has mostly been absent this year as he battles brain cancer. And that, McCain said, has undercut efforts to build consensus.
"The absence of Ted Kennedy is a very big factor that has brought us to where we are today," McCain said. "What Ted Kennedy usually does ... is that he sits down and negotiates and then you come to some kind of agreement."
Democrats are trying to avoid the debacle they suffered in 1993, when then President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary framed a plan to overhaul healthcare that went down in bitter defeat in Congress.
But for all the problems McCain saw for the healthcare and climate bills, he also acknowledged a White House that is "as adept and adroit as any" in U.S. history.
Noting Obama's success this year in winning passage of a Democratic budget, a $787 economic stimulus bill and expansion of a children healthcare program -- mostly amid Republican opposition, McCain said, "Success breeds success." (Additional reporting by Steve Holland, editing by Anthony Boadle)
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