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.

In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) expressed frustration at reports that Obama intends to put the Democratic bills on the table for discussion at the Feb. 25 summit.

"If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate," Boehner and Cantor wrote.

Obama proposed the half-day summit on national television Sunday, but in their letter, the two GOP leaders offer their suspicion that the president is not serious about opening a bipartisan negotiation on health care.

" 'Bipartisanship' is not writing proposals of your own behind closed doors, then unveiling them and demanding Republican support," Boehner and Cantor wrote. "Bipartisan ends require bipartisan means."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs responded by saying that Obama has sought Republican input since early last year, and the president remains interested in hearing ideas that the GOP believe will advance the cause of health care reform.

But he appeared to give little ground on the idea that Obama might abandon the months of work that produced Democratic bills that passed the House and the Senate late last year.

"He's been very clear about his support for the House and Senate bills because of what they achieve for the American people: putting a stop to insurance company abuses, extending coverage to millions of hardworking Americans, getting control of rising premiums and
out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficit," Gibbs said in a
statement.

"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. He's open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny. What he will not do,
however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families
and small business counting on it."

The Republican letter, and Gibbs's response, follow:

February 8, 2010
The Honorable Rahm Emanuel
Chief of Staff
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. Emanuel:
We welcome President Obama's announcement of forthcoming bipartisan health care talks.  In fact, you may remember that last May, Republicans asked President Obama to hold bipartisan discussions on
health care in an attempt to find common ground, but he declined and
instead chose to work with only Democrats. 

Since then, the President has given dozens of speeches on health care reform, operating under the premise that the more the American people learn about his plan, the more they will come to like it.  Just the opposite has occurred: a majority of Americans oppose the House and
Senate health care bills and want them scrapped so we can start over
with a step-by-step approach focused on lowering costs for families and
small businesses.  Just as important, scrapping the House and Senate
health care bills would help end the uncertainty they are creating for
workers and businesses and thus strengthen our shared commitment to
focusing on creating jobs.

Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people?  Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius said today that the President is "absolutely not"
resetting the legislative process for health care.  If the starting
point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people
have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant
to participate.

Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward in a bipartisan way, does that mean he has taken off the table the idea of relying solely on Democratic votes and jamming through health care reform by way of reconciliation?  As the President has noted
recently, Democrats continue to hold large majorities in the House and
Senate, which means they can attempt to pass a health care bill at any
time through the reconciliation process.  Eliminating the possibility
of reconciliation would represent an important show of good faith to
Republicans and the American people.

If the President intends to present any kind of legislative proposal at
this discussion, will he make it available to members of Congress and
the American people at least 72 hours beforehand?  Our ability to move forward in a bipartisan way through this discussion rests on openness and transparency. 

Will the President include in this discussion congressional Democrats who have opposed the House and Senate health care bills?  This bipartisan discussion should reflect the bipartisan opposition to both the House bill and the kickbacks and sweetheart deals in the Senate bill.

Will the President be inviting officials and lawmakers from the states to participate in this discussion?  As you may know, legislation has been introduced in at least 36 state legislatures, similar to the proposal just passed by the Democratic-controlled Virginia State Senate, providing that no
individual may be compelled to purchase health insurance. 
Additionally, governors of both parties have raised concerns about the
additional costs that will be passed along to states under both the
House and Senate bills.

The President has also mentioned his commitment to have "experts" participate in health care discussions.  Will the Feb. 25 discussion involve such "experts?"  Will those experts include the actuaries at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), who have determined that the both the House and Senate health care bill
raise costs - just the opposite of their intended effect - and
jeopardize seniors' access to high-quality care by imposing massive
Medicare cuts? Will those experts include the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which has stated that the GOP alternative would reduce premiums by up to 10 percent?  Also, will Republicans be permitted to invite health care experts to participate? 

Finally, as you know, this is the first televised White House health care meeting involving the President since last March.  Many health care meetings of the closed-door variety have been held at the White House since then, including one last month where a sweetheart deal was
worked out with union leaders.  Will the special interest groups that the Obama Administration has cut deals with be included in this televised discussion?

Of course, Americans have been dismayed by the fact that the President has broken his own pledge to hold televised health care talks.  We can only hope this televised discussion is the beginning, not the end, of attempting to correct that mistake.  Will the
President require that any and all future health care discussions,
including those held on Capitol Hill, meet this common-sense standard
of openness and transparency?

Your answers to these critical questions will help determine whether this will be a truly open, bipartisan discussion or merely an intramural exercise before Democrats attempt to jam through a job-killing health care bill that the American people can't afford and
don't support.  'Bipartisanship' is not writing proposals of your own
behind closed doors, then unveiling them and demanding Republican
support.  Bipartisan ends require bipartisan means.
These questions are also designed to try and make sense of the widening
gap between the President's rhetoric on bipartisanship and the
reality.  We cannot help but notice that each of the President's recent
bipartisan overtures has been coupled with harsh, misleading partisan
attacks. 
For instance, the President decries Republican 'obstruction' when it
was Republicans who first proposed bipartisan health care talks last
May.  The President says Republicans are 'sitting on the sidelines'
just days after holding up our health care alternative and reading from
it word for word.  The President has every right to use his bully
pulpit as he sees fit, but this is the kind of credibility gap that has
the American people so fed up with business as usual in Washington.
We look forward to receiving your answers and continuing to discuss
ways we can move forward in a bipartisan manner to address the
challenges facing the American people.
Sincerely, 

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) 
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA)
****
Please find below a statement from White House Press Secretary Robert
Gibbs in response to a letter sent today from House Republican Leader
John Boehner and House Republican Whip Eric Cantor:
 
"The President is adamant that we seize this historic moment to pass
meaningful health insurance reform legislation. He began this process
by inviting Republican and Democratic leaders to the White House on
March 5 of last year, and he's continued to work with both parties in
crafting the best possible bill. He's been very clear about his support
for the House and Senate bills because of what they achieve for the
American people: putting a stop to insurance company abuses, extending
coverage to millions of hardworking Americans, getting control of
rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficit.
 
"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. He's open to including any
good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny. What he will not do,
however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families
and small business counting on it. The recent news that a major insurer
plans to raise premiums for some customers by as much as 39 percent is
a stark reminder of the consequences of doing nothing."