Kyl: Obama's efforts on tort reform are 'disingenuous'

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) echoed his colleagues on Sunday and criticized the Obama administration for its lackluster effort to include tort reform in its larger healthcare reform plan.

"It is a tepid version of medical malpractice reform, and frankly, I thought it was a fairly disingenuous offer because it wasn't very real," Kyl told Fox News on Sunday.

Kyl's concerns likely stem from Obama's language recently. In neither his weekly address nor his speech in Minneapolis did the president speak about medical malpractice, which did appear in his address to Congress on Wednesday.

However, the Arizona senator claimed the White House's recent backtracking on tort reform was hardly atypical of the larger reform process. Rather, Kyl said, Democrats have opposed most GOP ideas, tossing many of the amendments they offered before the August recess.

"When that happens you finally get the idea that, 'ok, they don't want our ideas'," Kyl said. "I don't hold out a lot of hope for bipartisan action, given the president's speech last Wednesday evening, which I thought was very 'in your face,' with respect to anybody who [tried] to criticize his proposals."