Will Republicans Show Up?
By Bill Scher
February 9, 2010 – 8:54am ET
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security.
Republicans Put Conditions On Attending Health Care Summit
Republican leaders tell Obama they may not show up for health care summit. W. Post: “Leading House Republicans raised the prospect Monday night that they may decline 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.”
Democrats reject call to “start over.” Politico: “Republicans say they’re open to compromise — as long as Obama tears up the House and Senate bills … Democrats say, not a chance … Obama hopes to walk into the Feb. 25 summit with an agreement in hand between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on a final Democratic bill, so they can move ahead with a reform package after the sit-down. … ‘This meeting should not be an excuse to start over,’ [Sen. Mary] Landrieu said. ‘It should help us pave a road to the finish line.’”
Jonathan Cohn at The New Republic says Republicans already have had every chance to present their ideas on health care reform: “Five separate congressional committees had hearings; each chamber had floor debates. That’s hundreds of hours the GOP had to talk about health care, all of it in public view and televised on C-SPAN. And that’s not even including all of the unofficial channels at the Republicans’ disposal…”
Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky criticizes GOP leaders for fresh attack on any use of simple majority vote in Senate budget rules to pass health care when they previously conceded the budget reconciliation process is “legal” and “ethical.”
Democrats see opportunity to highlight what is actually in the bill. LAT: “…Obama’s call for a meeting … reflects the belief in Democratic circles that most provisions of the party’s healthcare bill remain popular and will stand up well against GOP ideas … more than 7 in 10 Americans would back a healthcare bill if it included tax credits for small businesses. And at least 6 in 10 would back legislation that expanded the Medicaid program for the poor, helped seniors on Medicare buy prescription drugs or guaranteed that all Americans could get insurance even if they were sick. But large segments of the public do not know that these provisions are in the House or Senate bills…”
Timothy Jost pens Politico oped noting charges of backroom dealing are overhyped: “…what is so wrong with a provision to provide $10 billion for community health centers throughout the country … Why should Massachusetts and Vermont be excluded from sharing in federal funding for Medicaid expansions they had already undertaken at their own expense … The Republicans were never shy about backroom deals when they controlled Congress … The real problem of governance is the Republicans’ use of the filibuster to stop the most pedestrian legislation.” Read the rest of this entry »




