House GOP Leader Tells Obama To Scrap Health Reform Plan
House GOP Leader John Boehner, of Ohio, said Tuesday that President Obama should "scrap this (health reform) bill," The Hill reports. "Boehner and House GOP leaders told reporters that it is apparent the bill is in trouble given the dissension voiced by the Democratic rank and file." Obama has left the details of drafting a reform plan to Congress.
"GOP Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) said 'either this bill fails or it will change dramatically, and if the bill fails it will be because of disagreement among the Democrats as to the proper direction to head as far as healthcare reform is concerned.'"
President Obama intends to make a heavy lobbying effort at the White House on Tuesday afternoon to convince conservative Democrats to support his trillion-dollar bill. Boehner told reporters on Tuesday that it's time to 'start over with a bipartisan bill' and that he's encouraged that 'there are members on my side of the aisle trying to find a way forward; there's a bipartisan way to solve the cost problems with healthcare and to ensure affordable access to Americans'" (Hooper, 7/21).
The Washington Post: "Republicans on Monday launched an aggressive effort to link the (the economy and health care), comparing the health-care bills moving through Congress to what they labeled as a failed economic stimulus bill." Boehner: "'People don't know as much as we'd like them to know about our better solutions because the proposals out of our Democrat friends here in Congress and the White House are coming at us. It's like standing in front a machine gun. While we're fending them off, we're trying to talk about our better solutions'" (Bacon and Fletcher, 7/21).