WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on ABC’s ‘This Week with George Stephanopoulos’ Sunday. The following are excerpts from the program:

ON H1N1 PREPAREDNESS:  “[T]he administration tells us that we've given them all the authority and all the money they need.  So if they need anything additionally from Congress, I know we'll be happy to provide it, on a totally bipartisan basis.”

ON THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE: “We do know that we had the first vote in the health care debate last week, and it was a bipartisan majority, 100 percent of Republicans and 13 Democrats agreeing that we should not borrow a quarter of a trillion dollars at the outset.  In other words, not send a bill to our grandchildren, in the very first vote of the health care debate.  So we'll see how it unfolds.”
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“What I do know is that all the nervousness is on the Democratic side. You saw that last week, and with 13 Democratic defections on this effort, to do this Medicare reimbursement issue without paying for it, by sending the bill to our grandchildren.  We know there is nervousness among Democrats over this increasing view that Congress is acting like a teenager with their parents' credit card, not worried about who's going to have to pay the bill.”

ON GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE: “No, it doesn't make any sense at all.  In fact, I think 100 percent of Republicans have indicated they don't think having the government in the insurance business is a good idea.”

ON THE HEALTH CARE BILL: “What we do know about this bill, though, George, aside from whether or not there's a government insurance company in it or not, we do know it's half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts.  We know it's $400 billion in tax increases on individuals and businesses.  And we know the CBO says that insurance premiums for everybody will go up, that's 85 percent of Americans who already have health insurance.  So, wholly aside from the debate over whether the government gets into the insurance business, the core of the proposal is a bill that the American public clearly does not like.”

ON REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE ALTERNATIVES: “Well, we're going to offer alternatives.  We have been all year.  We're going to offer alternatives on the health care debate.  The American people will have a chance to see that there is a choice, and that will be important going into next year's election.”

ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY:  “Look, the Gallup poll, which is out there every day, the oldest poll and the most respected poll in America, asked the question that really makes a difference, and that is the question, if the election were held tomorrow, who would you be more likely to vote for, the Republican candidate for Congress or the Democratic candidate for Congress?  Last November, not surprisingly, my party was down 12. Two weeks ago, we were down 2.  So the issue is not so much whether they're identifying with Republicans or Democrats, but how would they vote.  And I think you sense over in Virginia, for example, the candidate for governor on the Democratic ticket in Virginia is complaining about the atmosphere in Washington causing him problems.”