Obama Wants GOP to Join "Healthcare Summit"

[David]

What should they do? My first reaction is STAY AWAY. On the other hand the GOP has great alternatives. This is an obvious trap. What is to be gained? GOP sent Obama proposals on healthcare. He admits he hasn't read those. Nuff said.

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[schaabdl]

Nothing to gain - BHO does not have a plan (just words). Mr. President, we need to work on the economy and we have small specific changes to consider in stand-alone bills instead of a 2000-page monstrosity that no one will know the consquences until to late.

[FoundingFather]

Obama knows damn well what the GOP proposals are. Just take look at their bills that weren't allowed to be brought up for a vote. Just take a look at the many pieces in various newspapers and online from Rep. Ryan and others.

This is just a photo-op. "Oh, look at me. I have the two sides working together, and when it fails, it won't be totally our (my) fault".

Stay away!

[BRamey]

He suddenly wants the repubs because he couldn't all the votes of the other democrats, so trying to get a few repubs to get what he wants.

[Rifleman]

I would bet Lyndsy Graham and John McCain might attend, that could be all Obama needs.

[schaabdl]

Originally Posted by Rifleman

I would bet Lyndsy Graham and John McCain might attend, that could be all Obama needs.

Might disagree with you about McCain - that would spell his doom in AZ at this time

[David]

Tell Obama we must start from scratch. Scrap the old Obamacare bills or we have nothing to talk about. Pledge support on Tort Reform. If Obama agrees have your meeting. Ain't gonna happen.

[Hawkscall]

I wish the Repubs would publish online all of the proposals they submitted to the Dems and the pres(?) and the dates they submitted them,before they go into this, so we can read them. Then ask him in front of the TV cameras why there was no reaction to any of these propsoals. Why were they called "the party of no" when all the proposals were rejected out of hand?

Watching him this morning - what a freakin phony. Now he is the "leader".
Just trying to cover his butt, he doesn't give a damn about what we think or what the Repubs think. Wonder what Pelosi and her poodles are doing?

C

[David]

This is good. GOP Congressional leaders know this is about a photo op for Obama. He scored with the televised meeting with the House GOP. It was all about him. Giving him an opportunity to speak before cameras was a mistake. "Fool me once..."


Top House Republicans throw cold water on health-care summit

By Michael D. Shear
Leading House Republicans raised the prospect Monday night that they might refuse to participate in President Obama's proposed health care summit if the White House chooses not to scrap the existing reform bills and start over.

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[Rafael]

Obama just wants to get Republican fingerprints on this evil bill.

[jtdc]

Originally Posted by Robert Gibbs

The President looks forward to reviewing Republican proposals that meet the goals he laid out at the beginning of this process, and as recently as the State of the Union Address.

If Republicans agree to what the President wants, then he will call it bipartisan. Otherwise they are obstructionists.

Originally Posted by Robert Gibbs

He's open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny.

In other words, he will add to what he has but will not give up anything in the current bills.

[David]

Lib David Corn tells us what Obama and the Dems are up to.

They will be able to show GOP not willing to play the game. Then push "reconciliation" and slam the bill through the Senate with only 51 votes necessary.

GOP operatives ought to predict this in advance in order to get a leg up. This is all bad Kubuki Theater.

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[David]

Saw Karl Rove tonight saying GOP ought to go into the summit with specific proposals made public and distributed to the media. When Americans see they are acting in good faith and Dems just using them for props GOP wins the day.

I don't know. If Dems use the nuclear option after all this time public reaction will be intense. It's obvious this is a ploy to give them cover when they employ "reconciliation.

Senate Democrats may go into the bipartisan health care reform summit later this month holding a legislative gun to Republicans' heads.

Some Democrats are readying a health care reform "Plan B" in case negotiations at the half-day televised forum on Feb. 25 go nowhere. The plan would involve passing part of the imperiled health care bill using reconciliation, a controversial procedural maneuver that would allow the package to pass with 51 votes, as opposed to the usual 60 required to overcome a filibuster.

"I think a decision has just been made -- we're just going to go ahead" with a reconciliation bill, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, told reporters.

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[BRamey]

Obama doesn't really want to hear any ideas that don't match his. That's why he didn't listen to anything the repubs had to say before.

[Rafael]

Originally Posted by BRamey

Obama doesn't really want to hear any ideas that don't match his. That's why he didn't listen to anything the repubs had to say before.

Right. These people were in the House and Senate. So, what's new.

[David]

Obama has already said no scrapping the Dems bill. Katleen Sibelius has said you can't take apart the bill because it's all interconnected. When it's all over Dems will still try to use reconciliation. They just want cover. Boehner and McConnell need to get their stories straight.

Mixed GOP response to W.H. health summit invite

Erica Werner ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans sent mixed signals after President Barack Obama challenged them to participate in a one-of-a-kind televised summit with Democrats to come up with health care legislation.

House Republicans derided the Feb. 25 event, casting doubt on whether it would produce any bipartisan agreement to extend coverage to millions of people and rein in medical costs.

"Are they willing to start over with a blank sheet of paper?" said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio. "We need answers before we know if the White House is more interested in partisan theater than in facilitating a productive dialogue about solutions."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was more receptive, saying he would work with the White House "to maximize the effectiveness of the meeting."

The summit is considered a last, best attempt to revive Obama's yearlong health overhaul quest, now stalled after Democrats lost their filibuster-proof Senate majority.

Yet since Obama proposed the summit last weekend, Republicans and Democrats have voiced skepticism. Some in the GOP wondered if it would be nothing but a spectacle that could benefit the president at their expense. Democrats viewed Republicans' insistence that Obama trash existing bills and start over as evidence they weren't sincere about bipartisanship.

By presiding over a meeting with three dozen lawmakers trying to get a word in edgewise, Obama may be able to dominate the conversation and the visual images. That's what many Democrats say he did at a Jan. 29 session when he faced a roomful of GOP House members in Baltimore.

In its invitation, the White House argued that remaking health care was imperative, and Obama challenged Democrats and Republicans to come up with comprehensive bills before the event at Blair House, across the street from the White House.

The White House named 21 lawmakers the president wants to attend the summit: the top leaders in the House and Senate and of the committees with jurisdiction over the health legislation. Obama also invited the top four leaders to invite four more lawmakers each, bringing the total to 37 -- 20 Democrats and 17 Republicans.

Obama will offer opening remarks, followed by comments from a Republican leader and a Democratic leader, according to the format detailed in a letter Friday by Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Obama will then moderate a discussion covering four topics: insurance reforms, cost containment, expanding coverage and the impact of health legislation on the deficit.

The letter stands as a challenge not just to Republicans but also to Democrats, who have yet to finalize a deal on sweeping overhaul legislation. They were on the verge of doing so last month before the special election victory of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts deprived Democrats of the filibuster-proof 60 votes they need to move forward in the Senate.

That threw the undertaking into disarray and congressional leaders have been struggling to pick up the pieces. Some hope the summit will break the logjam one way or the other.

Democratic leaders are working toward a package that could pass the Senate under rules that require only a simple majority vote, not 60 votes -- a strong-arm partisan approach infuriates Republicans and makes moderate Democrats uneasy.

Democrats and Republicans are far apart in their aims. Democrats' legislation would cover more than 30 million uninsured, while a House Republican plan would cover only 3 million. Members of both parties say they see a few areas for common ground, including revamping the medical malpractice system and finding ways to allow consumers to shop for insurance plans across state lines.

[David]

This is a joke. The two GOP scholars on health care and the budget not invited to the summit. White House knows these two guys bring the goods to the table. This ought to infuriate Boehner and McConnell. Charles Krauthammer suggested the GOP designate Ryan as their spokesperson during the summit. Ryan would be the only GOP member to voice opinions. Making it an Obama vs. Ryan debate. Paul Ryan can go toe to toe with any of them. he has written his own health care plan which is a defacto GOP plan. Screw em!

White House snubs budget panel leaders in health summit invites
By J. Taylor Rushing - 02/13/10 08:24 PM ET

The White House did not invite House or Senate Budget Committee leaders to its healthcare reform summit later this month, including a Republican who recently offered to work with President Barack Obama to strike a bipartisan deal.

Obama’s administration on Friday released a list of its invitees to the Feb. 25 summit, but topping the conspicuous absences were the top budget-writers in each chamber. For the Senate, the list excluded Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the ranking Budget Committee member who in recent weeks has been publicly courting the Obama administration for a seat at the table in the talks, and committee chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).

Conrad and Gregg last month launched an unsuccessful effort to create a legislative commission to study the federal deficit. For the House, missing from Friday’s invitee list was Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-S.C.) and ranking member Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Conrad and Gregg were both unreachable on Saturday, and calls, pages and e-mails to multiple White House spokesmen went unreturned.

Unless the administration changes course, the only way for the budget-writers to be included is to be chosen by their leadership as one of four extra guests the administration is allowing.

Gregg has been clearly lobbying to be included in the talks, telling MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Friday that both parties should "step back.” He did tell Mitchell that the White House has contacted his office even though he wasn’t formally invited to the summit.


“Let’s start with a blank sheet of paper and let's put on that piece of paper things we can agree about," Gregg said. "There are a lot of places I see we could make progress on if we started with that blank piece of paper.”

However, Gregg has had a rocky relationship with Obama in the past year. Originally tapped to become the president’s commerce secretary, Gregg abruptly withdrew and went on to become one of the most consistent GOP critics of Obama’s agenda.

In all, the White House on Friday invited 21 members of Congress — 12 Democrats and nine Republicans — to the summit, with an option for House and Senate leaders to add four other members of their choice. Also present will be representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Congressional Budget Office, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Office of Health Reform Director Nancy DeParle.

The invitee list focuses on leadership members, plus the top members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Finance Committee and the House’s Ways and Means Committee, Energy and Commerce Committee and Education and Labor Committee.

The Senate invitees: Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), HELP Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), HELP Committee ranking member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and senior HELP Committee member Chris Dodd (D-Conn.).

The House invitees: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), ranking committee member Dave Camp (R-Mich.), Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking committee member Joe Barton (R-Texas), Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.), ranking committee member John Kline (R-Minn.) and former Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.).
Source:
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/8...summit-invites

[schaabdl]

Definition of bipartisan from BHO and the DIMS - simply agree with us.

[David]

There can be no compromise here. This is a huge undertaking. How you approach health care reform depends on your overall political philosophy. Dems want government to take over health care. GOP wants more market based health care reform. You can't compromise on your basic beliefs.

[David]

This is really an easy call. If Obama is introducing the Dem combined bill over the weekend and Dems will use the nuclear option GOP needs to stay away.

Oh my: GOP ready to boycott ObamaCare summit?
posted at 6:38 pm on February 19, 2010 by Allahpundit

I’m reading between the lines, but you don’t have to read too closely. Greg Sargent reported a few hours ago that Reid is now openly talking about using reconciliation not only to pass O-Care but to pass a public option too. I still think it’s a bluff, but that’s a provocative bit of muscle-flexing ahead of a meeting with the GOP that’s supposedly aimed at compromise and conciliation.

Now here comes Cantor with a statement of his own responding to Reid. You tell me: Is this or is this not an implied threat?

“If the President is sincere about moving forward in a bipartisan fashion, he must take the reconciliation process – which will be used jam through legislation that a majority of Americans do not want – off the table. By using the reconciliation process, the Administration and Democrat leaders are sending a clear signal that they still refuse to listen to the American people and have no interest in bipartisanship. To be certain, by using the reconciliation process, the Administration makes clear that their promise of bipartisanship is dead.

“If the President’s intention for the health care summit is to finally show that he is ready to listen and work in a bipartisan way to produce incremental reforms that the American people support, he is off to a rocky start. The health care bills that the Obama Administration has apparently combined to form a new plan – unfortunately again behind closed doors – have not only been rejected by the American people and Republicans, but by Democrats on Capitol Hill who have spent that past year arguing amongst themselves over them. I urge President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader Reid to stop trying to subvert the will of the American people and finally start listening to them.”

He and Boehner demanded once before as the price of negotiation that Democrats take reconciliation off the table, and their bluff was called. If Obama calls this bluff too, what choice do they have but to walk?

Eh, I don’t think they have the stones to do it. They’ll show, but the summit will very quickly devolve into a grievance session in which the GOP pounds the table about reconciliation and The One pounds the table about obstructionism. That’s all it was ever going to be anyway; Reid and Cantor are just setting up the props for Thursday’s show.

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