United States Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says Congress should stop and start over on health care legislation.

As part of Western Kentucky University's Constitution Week celebration, Kentucky's senior senator spoke at the school's South Campus Monday on a number of issues facing U.S. lawmakers.

Senator McConnell says a rush to reform health care is "completely inappropriate" and "hunkering down here at home" is simply not the best way to protect the U.S. against the war on terror.

Health care and foreign policy--they're just a couple of topics hitting the U.S. House and Senate floors and causing some heated debate between party lines.

"I've said to myself, somehow I'm not breaking through," said President Obama during a network interview Sunday.

Five interviews on five different networks.

President Obama blitzed morning talk shows Sunday with his focus set on pressuring Congress to pass national health care reform.

But critics say Americans aren't buying it.

"The polls are very clear. The American people are saying they don't want to do what the President is advocating. So I think what we all need to do is to slow down, stop this current process, start over and get it right," McConnell said.

Senator McConnell says health care should cost less, but is hesitant to say if a government reform will see a bi-partisan compromise.

"Nobody I know, thinks we need to do nothing. The question is whether you want the government to take over all of American health care. It's having a hard enough time running Medicare and Medicaid now," the senator said.

Afghanistan is still very much a debated topic among political leaders.

McConnell says sending more U.S. troops overseas may be necessary.

"I think most of my members believe that's the best way to prevent another attack on the homeland, is to not let al-Qaeda in effect get control of the Afghanistan government again," he said.

President Obama is expected to get a request from military commanders asking for more troops.

While the president has said he wants more time to sort out the strategy before deciding, McConnell says President Obama should "stay the course."

"If he decides to expand the number of troops in Afghanistan, I think he'll have widespread support from the Republicans in the Senate," McConnell said.

The number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan currently stands at around 68,000.

After McConnell spoke Monday, he followed up with a signing of John David Dyche's book entitled "Republican Leader: Political Biography of Senator Mitch McConnell."