Schakowsky: ‘Fear is the friend’ of the GOP

Fear is the friend of Republican lawmakers looking to slow down or prevent healthcare reform legislation from going forward, one Democratic lawmaker asserted Monday.

“Fear is their friend,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said in a conference call organized by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to respond to a “Seniors’ Health Care Bill of Rights” released by their GOP counterpart this morning.

“The Republican Party has to take responsibility for their lies and their hypocrisy when it comes to seniors and healthcare reform,” Schakowsky said. “The substance of this document uses false claims that have time and again been debunked.”

The Republican National Committee’s (RNC) “bill of rights” would, among other things, oppose cuts to Medicare to fund healthcare reform, preventing government involvement in end-of-life care, and “prohibit efforts to ration health care based on age.”

Schakowsky accused Republicans of “doing nothing except saying ‘no’ and spreading lies” in the document, and accused the GOP of ” carrying the water of the insurance companies, of the status quo.”

“There may be Democrats who would like to see a bipartisan solution to this, but the Republicans are unwilling to compromise,” she said, predicting that the House would return in September to pass legislation containing a public (or “government-run”) option for consumers.