I/IV. http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0210/Ax_Obama_not_looking_for_a_symbolic_win_on_health_care.html?showall
February 07, 2010 Ax: Obama not looking for a "symbolic" win on health care<http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0210/Ax_Obama_not_looking_for_a_symbolic_win_on_health_care.html?showall#> - In another sign that President Obama is still working for a big, comprehensive health care bill, senior White House adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that Obama is not looking for a "symbolic" win. “His goal and his interest is not in scoring a symbolic, making a symbolic gesture, not putting up votes for the sake of putting up votes, but in actually getting something done and that’s what he’s working towards," he said on C-SPAN Newsmakers. Asked why Obama won't weigh in on a legislative strategy to move the stalled effort, Axelrod said, “I think people would like the president to be able to say, just snap his fingers and finish this out. The fact is it’s more complex than that.” The president is still working on getting the votes to move it forward and that takes time, he said. II. http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-obama-health8-2010feb08,0,845183.story Obama to invite GOP to healthcare summitThe president hopes both parties work out differences in televised talks. Republicans say they will participate but want the health bills tossed. By Peter Nicholas February 8, 2010 Reporting from Washington In a high-stakes bid to revive his healthcare overhaul, President Obama announced during a pre-Super Bowl television interview that he would convene a bipartisan summit in which Republicans and Democrats would try to forge a compromise while a national TV audience watched. Republican leaders indicated they would attend the Feb. 25 gathering, but said they want to start over -- tossing out the measures that passed the Senate and House last year. Speaking to Katie Couric of CBS<http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6184114n&tag=cbsnewsSectionsArea.4>, Obama said: "What I want to do is ask them to put their ideas on the table and then after the recess . . . to come back and have a large meeting -- Republicans and Democrats -- to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward." The half-day summit would be held at Blair House, across the street from the White House, after Congress' recess next week. Obama telegraphed his plans at a fundraiser Thursday night. "What I'd like to do is have a meeting whereby I'm sitting with the Republicans, sitting with the Democrats, sitting with healthcare experts, and let's just go through these bills . . . in a methodical way so that the American people can see and compare what makes the most sense," he said. The summit invitation serves two political purposes. For months, the president has endured criticism that he reneged on a promise to televise healthcare negotiations on C-SPAN. By opening up the summit to the cameras, Obama can argue he is making good on that commitment at a crucial point in the process. Also, the summit gives the president a chance to paint Republicans as obstructionists who refuse offers of compromise. If that's how the event is perceived, it could pay off for Democrats in the November midterm elections. But if viewers conclude that Republicans are being reasonable, and that Obama is pushing an unworkable proposal, his gesture could backfire. Polls tend to show that the public dislikes what it has heard about the healthcare overhaul. The Senate and House have passed different versions of the bill, which is intended to extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, hold down healthcare costs and raise money to pay for the plan. But efforts to forge a consensus amenable to both chambers stalled after Democrats lost their 60-vote supermajority in the Senate. Republican Scott Brown won the seat formerly held by the late Edward M. Kennedy last month, becoming the GOP's 41st vote -- exactly the number needed to sustain a filibuster. Brown campaigned on stopping the healthcare bill. Republicans said Sunday that they are prepared to participate in the summit, but would like a White House commitment to start from scratch. "Obviously, I am pleased that the White House finally seems interested in a real, bipartisan conversation on healthcare," said House Republican leader John A. Boehner of Ohio. "The problem with the Democrats' healthcare bills is not that the American people don't understand them; the American people do understand them, and they don't like them," he said. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said: "We always appreciate the opportunity to share ideas with the president, particularly on an issue where Americans have spoken so clearly. If we are to reach a bipartisan consensus, the White House can start by shelving the current health spending bill." But starting fresh is not part of the White House plan. In an interview Sunday night, a White House official said, "The Republicans are going to interpret this as we're starting over. We're not starting over. We're coming in with our plan. They're welcome to come in with whatever plan they'd like. But we're moving forward." One Republican aide said Sunday that the summit looked to be "a stunt." The White House could have called such a meeting "six months ago -- as Republicans asked them to," the aide said. Democratic congressional leaders have been talking almost daily about how to revive health legislation, meeting most recently on Thursday at the White House with Obama. On Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said they looked forward to the summit. In a statement, Pelosi said, "I welcome the president's call for a bipartisan, bicameral discussion in front of the American people on fundamental health insurance reform that will make quality care affordable for all Americans and American businesses." She added that the House and Senate would use the time until the summit to keep looking for a solution. Reid, in a statement, said, "Senate Democrats join with the president in reaffirming our commitment to seeking a bipartisan solution to health reform." peter.nicholas@ latimes.com Noam Levey of the Washington bureau contributed to this report. III. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/08/obama-televised-bipartisan-meeting-health-care/ Monday, February 8, 2010Obama to host televised, bipartisan meeting on health care Kara Rowland <http://www.washingtontimes.com/staff/kara-rowland/> In an effort to put Republicans on the spot on health care, President Obama said he will invite them to the White House for a televised meeting later this month to try reignite the push for a bill. Republicans said they will meet but said the only way to get the negotiations going is if the president promises to start over. Mr. Obama, in an interview with CBS that aired just before the Super Bowl on Sunday, welcomed their ideas and said he wants to comb through the best proposals. "I want to ask them to put their ideas on the table, and then after the recess, which will be a few weeks away, I want to come back and have a large meeting, the Republicans and Democrats, to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward," Mr. Obama told interviewer Katie Couric. The invitation marks the first move to salvage a health-care overhaul after congressional Democrats shelved their bills in the wake of Republican Scott Brown's supermajority-killing victory in the Massachusetts Senate race. Mr. Obama wouldn't say whether he is willing to start from the beginning — as Republicans would like. "What I want to do is look at the Republican ideas that are out there and I want to be very specific," he said. "How do you guys want to lower costs? How do you guys intend to reform the insurance markets so people with pre-existing conditions, for example, can get health care?" Republican leaders welcomed the meeting but stressed their opposition to existing health-care legislation. "If we are to reach a bipartisan consensus, the White House can start by shelving the current health spending bill," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican. House Minority Leader John Boehner said the way to bipartisan health reform begins with agreement over step-by-step improvements rather than with one giant bill, like the existing legislation. "The problem with the Democrats' health-care bills is not that the American people don't understand them; the American people do understand them and they don't like them," he said. The decision to broadcast the half-day bipartisan meeting — which would take place on Feb. 25 — comes after Mr. Obama has faced criticism for not living up to his promise of transparency by holding all health care meetings, including House-Senate conference meetings, in the open, as he had pledged on the campaign trail. Mr. Obama last week said that much of the bill's writing process did take place in the open since congressional hearings of jurisdiction were open to the public. But he said he should have done more to ensure that some of the subsequent closed-door meetings with congressional leaders were open. Democrats were having trouble moving forward on the House and Senate bills even before Mr. Brown's victory, as they contain differing approaches on several thorny issues such as federal funding of abortion. But Mr. Obama has repeatedly said he does not intend to walk away from his agenda on health care, and an administration official echoed that Sunday. "What the President will not do is let this moment slip away. He hopes to have Republican support in doing so — but he is going to move forward on health reform," the official said. Mr. Obama has planned a separate bipartisan meeting at the White House on Tuesday as part of a new initiative he announced during his State of the Union address to meet with leaders from both aisles and chambers once a month. IV. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/us/politics/08webobama.html?hp February 8, 2010 Obama Plans Bipartisan Summit on Health Care By JEFF ZELENY<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/z/jeff_zeleny/index.html?inline=nyt-per> WASHINGTON — President Obama<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per> said Sunday that he would convene a half-day bipartisan health care session at the White House to be televised live this month, a high-profile gambit that will allow Americans to watch as Democrats and Republicans try to break their political impasse. Mr. Obama made the announcement in an interview on CBS during the Super Bowl<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/super_bowl/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> pre-game show, capitalizing on a vast television audience. He set out a plan that would put Republicans on the spot to offer their own ideas on health care and show whether both sides are willing to work together. “I want to come back and have a large meeting, Republicans and Democrats, to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward,” Mr. Obama said in the interview from the White House Library. Mr. Obama challenged Republicans to attend the meeting with their plans for lowering the cost of health insurance and expanding coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans. Republican leaders said they welcomed the opportunity and called on Democrats to start the debate from scratch, which the president said he would not do. The move by Mr. Obama comes after weeks in which the administration has appeared uncertain about how to proceed on his top domestic priority since Republicans captured the Senate seat previously held by Senator Edward M. Kennedy<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/edward_m_kennedy/index.html?inline=nyt-per>. House and Senate Democrats had been increasingly at odds over what the bill should say, how to move ahead tactically and, in some cases, whether to continue at all. The idea for the bipartisan meeting, set for Feb. 25, was reached in recent weeks, aides said, as part of the White House strategy to intensify its push to engage Congressional Republicans in policy negotiations, share the burden of governing and put more scrutiny on Republican initiatives. Mr. Obama’s announcement came after he surprised his rivals in late January by requesting that a session with House Republicans be open to cameras. That meeting produced a spirited 90-minute question-and-answer session with the president that many in the White House viewed as a critical success for Mr. Obama. In making the gesture on Sunday, Mr. Obama is in effect calling the hand of Republicans who had chastised him for not honoring a campaign pledge to hold health care deliberations in the open, broadcast by C-Span, and for not allowing Republicans at the bargaining table. Nancy-Ann DeParle<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/nancyann_deparle/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, the director of the White House Office for Health Reform, briefed Democratic Congressional staff members in a conference call ahead of the interview, withKatie Couric<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/katie_couric/index.html?inline=nyt-per> . Separately, some Congressional staff members expressed concern that Mr. Obama’s meeting would simply prolong an already tortuous process. And Democrats still face steep challenges in reconciling the differences between the House and Senate bills. Some House Democrats are firmly opposed to a proposed tax on high-cost employer-sponsored insurance policies, which they think will hit some middle-class workers and violate Mr. Obama’s campaign promise not to raise taxes on Americans earning less than $250,000 a year. The president offered a number of questions that his party would have for the Republicans. “How do you guys want to lower costs? How do you guys intend to reform the insurance market so that people with pre-existing conditions, for example, can get health care?” he said. “How do you want to make sure that the 30 million people who don’t have health insurance can get it? What are your ideas specifically?” The question for Mr. Obama is how much — if at all — he is willing to give on some of the concepts Democrats have already agreed on, or if he is using the meeting to lay the groundwork for another effort by Democrats to push the legislation through without Republican votes. Mr. Obama did not indicate what he was willing to give up in the negotiations, nor did he chart a specific legislative strategy for moving a bill through Congress. Democrats in the House and Senate were hoping to resolve their differences in the bill, aides said, and present a unified health care plan in time for the meeting. Senator Mitch McConnell<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/mitch_mcconnell/index.html?inline=nyt-per> of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said in a statement that he welcomed the bipartisan meeting on health care and called on the president to begin the dialogue “by shelving the current health spending bill.” “The fact is Senate Republicans held hundreds of town halls and met with their constituents across the country last year on the need for health care reform<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>, outlining ideas for the step-by-step approach that Americans have asked for,” Mr. McConnell said. “And we know there are a number of issues with bipartisan support that we can start with when the 2,700-page bill is put on the shelf.” When asked by Ms. Couric if he would agree to discard the bill and start over, the president said he would not. The starting point, aides said, would be with the proposals that passed the House and Senate. It remained an open question whether the meeting could lead to real consensus on health care, or whether it would serve only to allow Democrats to frame a political argument against the Republicans going into the midterm campaign. Republicans were involved in the health care discussions for months last year in the Senate Finance Committee, but differences with Democrats were never resolved. The bipartisan meeting on health care could give Mr. Obama an opportunity to display the command on health care issues he showed at the meeting with Republicans. The administration believes that the public is supportive of many of the provisions in the bill — particularly taking away the insurance bans for pre-existing conditions — but that the debate was overshadowed by a messy legislative process. Representative John A. Boehner<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/john_a_boehner/index.html?inline=nyt-per> of Ohio, the Republican leader, said he was looking forward to the bipartisan discussion. But he joined Mr. McConnell in calling for a fresh start to the health care debate. “The problem with the Democrats’ health care bills is not that the American people don’t understand them — the American people do understand them, and they don’t like them,” Mr. Boehner said in a statement. “The best way to start on real, bipartisan reform would be to scrap those bills and focus on the kind of step-by-step improvements that will lower health care costs and expand access.” In the interview on Sunday, Mr. Obama said he did not regret pursuing health care in the first year of his presidency, even though he intends to place a higher priority on job creation this year. “It was the right thing to do then,” Mr. Obama. “It continues to be the right thing.” David Herszenhorn contributed reporting. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to greenyo...@googlegroups.com. 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