Republican United States Senate candidate Roy Blunt expects Missourians to send a strong message tomorrow that they don’t like federally-mandated health care.
Blunt supports Proposition C, touted by backers as the Health Care Freedom Act, on the primary ballot. Blunt sees Proposition C as a referendum on the federal health care bill pushed by President Obama and passed by Congress.
“It’s the wrong course for America. (US House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi’s statement that we’ll know what’s in the bill after we pass it will surely haunt her for a long time,” Blunt tells reporters at a news conference in Jefferson City. “Because the more Americans see about the cost of this bill, the more they see that it’s an impediment to private sector job creation, the less they’re going to like it.”
Proposition C would prohibit the federal government from forcing Missourians to buy health insurance. If approved, it likely will face a court challenge.
Blunt is among nine Republicans bidding for their party’s nomination to replace Senator Bond, a Republican who will retire this year after serving three terms in the United States Senate. Blunt has focused his talk during the campaign against his likely Democratic opponent Robin Carnahan, rarely speaking about his Republican challengers, including State Senator Chuck Purgason of Caulfield, who is mounting a long-shot bid to win the Republican nomination.
“I think this election is about the general (election),” Blunt explains. “People are engaged in the issues. I’ve been talking about those issues. This election in our state is going to be a referendum on a direction for the country.”
Blunt says he represents a different direction of the country than that of President Obama and the Democratically-controlled Congress.
AUDIO: US Senate candidate Roy Blunt on Proposition C and Chuck Purgason [2:20 MP3]