Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday said the attack on the Cincinnati FBI field office last week was "unacceptable." WVXU asked Mitch McConnell what he thinks can be done to dial back incendiary speech leading to such attacks.
“People in public life like myself need to point out to everyone that the way we express our differences in this country is through the democratic process, not through acts of violence,” he says. “Acts of violence are not protected by the First Amendment and people in acts of violence need to pay the price for it.”
Authorities say a man tried to force his way into the FBI offices last Thursday, before leading officers on a chase to Clinton County. Police say the 42-year-old Columbus man shot at them before and during an hours-long standoff. It ended when he was shot and killed.
“I think attacks on law enforcement agencies is completely unacceptable. And hopefully all people in public life will push back,” he says.
McConnell spoke Thursday afternoon to the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
The Republican says health care provisions recently signed into law are going in the wrong direction. McConnell says the measures in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act will hurt research and development.
“That particular industry, to compare it a little bit to the oil industry drills a lot of dry holes in trying to find life-saving drugs," he says. "In fact, most of the things they start … do not work. And when the government takes over pricing, the inevitable result of that in my view is fewer life-saving cures.”
The White House says some Medicare recipients will see prescription costs drop, and another 13 million Americans will see their health insurance premiums fall.
“I think having a competitive model is what we set up when we added prescription drugs to Part-D of Medicare back 20 years ago is the best way forward.”
The White House says insulin costs will be capped at $35 for a month’s supply, benefiting more than 3 million Medicare beneficiaries.
McConnell was the guest speaker at a Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Florence.
