McCain: Obama spending binge must end

PHOENIX -- The Obama Administration is on a spending binge that must come to an end -- and without the president's health care reform proposal, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., declared Friday.

McCain, who lost to President Barack Obama in last year's election, told Austin Hill, guest host on News/Talk 92-3 KTAR's "Ankarlo Mornings," that "We've amassed over a trillion dollars in additional debt on the American people since the president took office."

He said Obama is slipping in the polls because, "The polls are showing the manifestation of the deep concern and worry Americans have about the debt and the deficit."

The president's health care reform plan would cost another trillion dollars, McCain said.

He discouraged raucous behavior that has erupted at town hall meetings on health care reform around the country. McCain said the town hall form of meeetings is a fundamental of democracy and it's important to have a dialogue.

"We should all be respectful," he said.

Asked about possible disrespectful comments from leaders of Democrats in Congress, McCain said they are "getting desperate."

"They know that this health care proposal that passed through the Senate Health Committee and the House of Representatives is like a fish you leave out in the sun. The more you examine it, the more problems people have with it."

McCain said that Republicans have alternative proposals, which include medical malpractice reform, allowing people to cross state lines for health insurance and giving every American family a $5,000 refundable tax credit to let it get the policy it wants.

"We do have proposals," McCain said. "They are not forcing the employer to provide it (health insurance) and they are not a government-run option."

The month-long August recess for Congress will be crucial in the debate over health care reform, McCain said.

"The month of August -- how Americans weigh in on this issue -- will determine whether in September we pass this health care reform," he said, again citing a $1 trillion price tag.

"I have never seen anything as out of control as this spending," McCain said. "We are committing generational theft, we are robbing our kids and our grandkids. There is not one reliable economist that will tell you this kind of spending is sustainable."

Obama is going back on his pledge of transparency in government, both in handling health care reform and the "Cash for Clunkers" program to get gas-guzzling vehicles off the road, McCain said.

He said the Administration did not tell about a deal with the drug companies on health care reform until it surfaced in the media and that it has not yet revealed details of how "Cash for Clunkers" is being implemented.

McCain condemned "Cash for Clunkers," saying, "It's giving away money for free, it's going to distort the market."

He called it "an artificial economic stimulus."

"We've got a lot of golf courses here in the Valley, and a lot of people's golf clubs are old. Why shouldn't they trade them in, and we'll have a vise or something to bend them so they can't be used again," he joked.

McCain also joked with Hill that he was taking a break from "the city of Satan," where, he said, he has been "trying to do the Lord's work."