Transcript: Sens. McConnell and McCaskill

"This Week" transcript with McConnell and McCaskill

ByABC News
October 16, 2009, 1:17 PM

Oct. 25, 2009 — -- ABC NEWS, THIS WEEK WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL AND SENATOR CLAIRE MCCASKILL.

SPEAKERS: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST: ABC'S "THIS WEEK WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS" OCTOBER 25, 2009

STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning, and welcome to "This Week."

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SEN. HARRY REID, D-NEV.: I support a public option.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: New life for the public option. Is it back forgood?

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SEN. OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, R-MAINE: In terms of the public optionquestion, which I, you know, am opposed to...

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Putting the squeeze on CEOs.

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(UNKNOWN): Let the these companies do what they do best.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Will it work or wreck the banks?

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(UNKNOWN): I try to balance both sides.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: The White House war with Fox.

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DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT: It's really notnews. It's pushing a point of view.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: And Cheney's war with the White House.

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DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: We cover it all this morning with the latestfrom Congress in exclusive interviews with the Republican Leader MitchMcConnell and Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill.

Plus, debate and analysis in our expanded powerhouse roundtable,with George Will, Obama ally John Podesta from the Center for AmericanProgress, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham, Cynthia Tucker from theAtlanta Journal-Constitution and the Washington bureau chief ofBloomberg News, Al Hunt.

And as always, the Sunday Funnies.

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CONAN O'BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: One of the top-selling costumesthis Halloween is the vampire version of President Obama calledBaracula. Not so popular, Congressman Barney Frankenstein.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Is this the endgame on health reform? Willanyone win the battle between the White House and Fox News? And hasthe attorney general effectively ended an era of prohibition with hisannouncement this week on medical marijuana? The roundtable's righthere to tackle all that and more today, including some breaking newsout of Baghdad. More than 100 killed and 500 injured in twin suicidebombings aimed at government buildings right in the heart of the Iraqicapital.

But let's begin with by checking with both sides in the Senate.We have Democrat Claire McCaskill and the Republican leader of theSenate, Mitch McConnell.

And Senator McConnell, let me begin with you. Your counterpart,the Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, has been working thephones for the last several days. He believes he's a day or two awayfrom getting the 60 votes he needs to break any Republican filibusterof health care reform. Is he right, and does this mean that healthcare is going to pass this year?

MCCONNELL: Well, I think we'll have to wait and see. We do knowthat we had the first vote in the health care debate last week, and itwas a bipartisan majority, 100 percent of Republicans and 13 Democratsagreeing that we should not borrow a quarter of a trillion dollars atthe outset. In other words, not send a bill to our grandchildren, inthe very first vote of the health care debate. So we'll see how itunfolds.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So much of this is centered right now, so muchof the debate is centered right now on this issue of the publicoption. The latest iteration that Senator Reid is working on is thathe would set up a national program, but states would have the abilityto opt out of the program, and it comes as the New York Times isreporting this morning that small businesses are going to face anincrease in their health insurance premiums of 15 percent next year,15 percent on average for small businesses. Given that, doesn't itmake sense that there be a public health insurance option to competewith the private insurers?