WASHINGTON–Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is in New York City on Monday, hosting a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fund-raiser at noon. While in Manhattan, Durbin dropped in at MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show where he discussed the health care bill prospects andsaid it was hard to see how Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) was “brainwashed” over the bank bailout deal.
On Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” McCain was asked by host David Gregory:
Gregory: One question about the bailout, the TARP. You voted for it. But you said that you were misled by Former Treasury Secretary Paulson. How so?
McCain: We were all misled. We were all misled. I mean, he said that they were going after the toxic assets. The toxic asset– for– is– were with the housing market. He testified– that. I mean, we were all misled. So, what did he do then? They started pumpin’ money into the financial institutions. Now, the financial institutions are fine. Wall Street’s doin’ great. Main Street is in deep trouble. In my home state of Arizona, 48 percent of the homes are under water. In other words, they’re worth less than the mortgage payments people are making.
On Monday, Durbin was asked about McCain’s comment. Said Durbin, it was “hard to understand how John McCain could have been brainwashed” by Paulson
On health care, Durbin, as are other Democrats, is paving the way for use of a parliamentary maneuver called reconciliation that requires just 51 Senate votes to approve a health care bill, instead of 60 needed to avoid a filibuster. Said Durbin, “We have used this process for big ideas in the past. It can be used this time.”