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 In a nationally broadcast interview, the former Virginia governor said, "If they want to run a campaign of bring back the day of kicking people off because of pre-existing conditions, I relish it."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had declared Tuesday that Democrats will enact the medical system reset at their own political peril, vowing to make it an issue in every congressional race this fall.
Asked about this, Kaine said he considers the picture of "Republicans fighting health care" to be a political asset for Democrats as they try to retain their control of Congress.
Kaine, who has been a close ally of President Barack Obama and helped him carry the state in 2008, also defended the fast-track parliamentary process that majority Democrats in the Senate plan to use to get the health care bill passed.
"The reconciliation is every bit as much a rule of the Senate as filibuster," said Kaine, noting that Republicans relied heavily on the expedited procedure to muscle through a series of substantial tax cuts during President George W. Bush's administration.
Typically, Senate rules can require a supermajority of 60 members of the 100-member body to advance legislation to passage. In that scenario, 41 members can effectively stall legislation or even kill it.
Under the so-called "reconciliation" process, first devised principally to help facilitate appropriations and budget bills, a measure can be passed by a simple 51-member majority.
Kaine was interviewed on NBC's "Today" show.
[Associated
Press]
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