ABC News’ David Chalian Reports:

A top leader of the nation’s labor movement upped the anti-health insurance company rhetoric coming from much of the left in the current health care reform debate.

“There was a lot of talk about death panels,” AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer (and the organization’s presumptive incoming president) Richard Trumka told us on ABC News’ “Top Line.” “Well there are death panels out there, they’re called the insurance companies,” he added.

Mr. Trumka has been a leading Democratic voice warning President Obama and his administration not to accept a health care reform bill without a public government-run health insurance option as a part of it.

He didn’t back down from that position today and appeared unimpressed with the idea of a delayed public option that only gets triggered if the private health insurance companies are unable to significantly bring down costs and expand coverage once health care reform legislation becomes law.

“Well, Trigger was a great horse and I’m sure Dale and Roy really liked Trigger,” joked Trumka. He went on to express concern about when such a triggered public option would take effect. “How far down the road? And what do we say to those people?,” he asked. “Is it 10 years down the road? Is it 8 years down the road? What do we say to every American that declares bankruptcy every thirty seconds because of this?,” he added.

The labor leader attempted to alter the terms of the health care debate we’ve seen play out across the country throughout August by keeping the focus on the current practices of health insurance companies in a less regulated marketplace. He cited an average of 32% of denied insurance claims from three of the largest health care providers in California over the last 7 years as an example.

“We need the public option to force them to become more efficient, more innovative and to break that stranglehold that they have on healthcare in this country,” Trumka said of the insurance companies.

Mr. Trumka also weighed in on immigration reform. The labor community has proven reluctant to join many of its Democratic brethren in Congress in support of comprehensive immigration reform legislation that was eventually rejected in 2007.

“We have a panel out, it was headed by a former Secretary of Labor, that I think is a perfect thing. It makes sure that people are treated humanely, that employers can’t exploit people that come into this country and it’ll solve the problem. It takes care of my members but more importantly, it takes care of the problems for the country itself,” said Trumka.

Watch the entire interview with Richard Trumka HERE:

We also chatted with Politico’s Jonathan Martin about what is behind the strategy shift at the White House and who makes up President Obama’s target audience for his big speech next week.

Check out the entire interview with Politico’s Jonathan Martin HERE:

Cheney Slams ‘Out of Whack’ Obama Budget Plans

ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports: Former vice president Dick Cheney continued his recent verbal assault on President Barack Obama’s policies, denouncing the new administration’s budget plans as “way out of whack.”

“I think the budgets he submitted are way out of whack,” Cheney told CNBC’s Larry Kudlow in an interview. “I think what it does not only to the short-term deficit but long-term debt situation is very objectionable.”

The administration’s deficit for the current budget year is expected to hit a record $1.8 trillion, mainly due to the government’s efforts to rescue the country from its current recession, such as the Wall Street bailout and the stimulus package.

The administration has recently stepped up the efforts of the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, with a flurry of programs to get bad assets off of banks’ balance sheets, jumpstart lending to consumers and small businesses, and stop the housing crisis.

Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management & Budget, wrote on his blog that the deficits “are driven in large part by the economic crisis inherited by this administration.”

The Bush regime inherited a $127 billion budget surplus, but set five record-high budget deficits in seven years and left office with the national debt over $10 trillion.

According to former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, Cheney once told him during a cabinet meeting, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”

Despite the increases in the near-term future, President Obama has pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of his term.

However, in recent weeks the ongoing crisis has prompted worries that the United States might lose its AAA credit rating. The concerns come after rating agency Standard & Poor’s warned Britain that its perfect rating could be in jeopardy due to the country’s rising debt.

Cheney said there was reason to worry that the United States’ credit standing could be downgraded.

“That’s got to be of concern,” he warned.

Last week, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration was more focused on fixing the economy than worrying about credit ratings.

“We’re not concerned about a change in our credit rating,” Gibbs said last Friday. “What the President is focused on and has been since coming into office was getting in place a recovery plan that will create jobs and get this economy moving again. Short term, the way to bring down the deficit is get this economy moving again. Medium to long term, we have to get our fiscal house back in order, and that’s why the President was pleased that Congress passed a budget that cuts the deficit in half in four years.”

–Matt Jaffe

Buffett Slams ‘Card-Check’

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: The Oracle of Omaha has stepped into the year’s hottest battle between big business and big labor.

On CNBC Monday, Warren Buffett weighed in sharply against the Employee Free Choice Act, union leaders’ top priority for the year.

“I think the secret ballot’s pretty important in the country. You know, I’m against card check, to make a perfectly flat statement,” Buffett said.

The statement is being actively circulated by opponents of the “card-check” bill, which would make it far easier for employees to form unions.

Buffett, who has had a close working relationship with President Obama and his team: is echoing the most prevalent argument used by the legislation’s opponents: that workers have a right to decide whether to form a union through secret ballot.

As we’ve covered previously, it’s not at all clear that supporters have adequate votes to pass the bill, which died in a Senate filibuster two years ago. And it’s also not yet clear that President Obama — who supports the bill — wants to burn political capital getting it through the Senate.

Politico’s Ben Smith has an interesting piece up today about how EFCA is creating jobs already — for Republican operatives.

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