Republicans are preparing to use Thursday’s White House health-care summit to sell their own ideas for using the private marketplace to expand coverage and reduce costs, but they remain wary of fumbling away what they believe is an advantage on the issue heading into this year’s critical midterm elections.
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But Republicans are not prepared to match every Democratic provision with one of their own. “You will not see from us a 2,700-page comprehensive rewrite of one-sixth of our economy,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.). “We don’t think that ought to be done.”
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Their goal is to present voters with a clear choice between a Democratic approach that seeks to expand the government role in health care, and the Republican aim of finding solutions in the private marketplace. “There’ll be no question as to where Republicans stand,” said House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.). “It is with a much more common-sense, modest approach to health-care reform.”
Read more at www.washingtonpost.com |
| The American people were the real winners in President Obama’s exchange with Republicans. |
| But while Mr. Obama won the photo-op aspects of the meeting and the tactical victory of the day, Republicans wrung some soundbites out of him they can use in the future. Mr. Obama was forced to accept and hold up for the cameras a 30-page Republican booklet entitled “BETTER SOLUTIONS: a Compilation of GOP Alternatives.” He acknowledged that he had read their bills on health care and complimented Rep. Paul Ryan, ranking Republican on the budget committee, for having a realistic solution to the growth of Medicare. All of that will make it harder for Mr. Obama and his surrogates to paint the GOP as “the party of ‘No’” in the future. |
| But the real winners from the exchange were the American people, who got to see a spontaneous version of the “Question Time” that British members of Parliament have long used to demand accountability from their Prime Ministers.Read more at online.wsj.com |
| Republicans Say They Met Obama Challenge for Better Health Plan |
| Obama asked his opponents during his Jan. 27 State of the Union address to come up with an “approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured” and bolster Medicare. Republicans, almost universally opposed to Obama’s plan, say they have less-costly ways of reaching many of those goals and have been advocating them for months. |
While Republican leaders have no plans to offer anything beyond the bills they’ve introduced, Representative Mike Pence of Indiana said party lawmakers will get a chance to lay out their approach to Obama when the president addresses the annual retreat of congressional Republicans in Baltimore today.
“I guarantee you, tomorrow House Republicans are going to take advantage of the president’s attendance” to explain their alternatives, Pence said yesterday on MSNBC television. Read more at www.businessweek.com |
| Is Bipartisanship Possible? President Obama Treks Into GOP Territory |
The president will speak at the annual retreat of Republican members of the House of Representatives in Baltimore. Obama hopes to build on the message of bipartisanship he addressed in his State of the Union Wednesday, White House officials said.
“Republicans invited the president to our retreat because we want to have a serious conversation with the president about our proposals to get this economy moving again, to lower the cost of health insurance … to put our fiscal house in order,” Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., chairman of the House Republican Conference, said on “Good Morning America” today. “He’s going to hear for quite a while from Republicans.”
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| “Republicans are going to continue to stand on the principle on which we were elected,” Pence said. “We are going to remind him that despite the ‘party of no’ smear… that we’ve offered substantive alternatives on every major issue.”
Read more at abcnews.go.com |
| Republicans Challenge Proposed Medicare Cuts in Health Debate |
| Senate Republicans will challenge a
Democratic plan to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from
Medicare, raising the specter of rationed care for seniors as
lawmakers prepare to vote on amendments to health legislation. |
Like a measure passed Nov. 7 by the U.S. House, the Senate
plan would require all Americans to get health coverage or pay a
penalty. It would expand the Medicaid health program for the poor,
set up online insurance-purchasing exchanges and provide
subsidies for those who can’t afford to buy their own policies.
Republican critics say the legislation threatens to crowd
out private insurers and some providers, yield big tax increases,
and explode federal budget deficits. Republicans also say the
true cost of the measure is about $2.5 trillion once all the
programs are in place. Read more at www.bloomberg.com |
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