WASHINGTON—Top Republicans in the House of Representatives have warned that they might reject President Barack Obama’s invitation to participate in a televised health care summit later this month unless he immediately discards support for reform bills passed by the House and Senate.
In a letter sent Monday night to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., wrote that if the approved bills—which the two GOP legislators said have been rejected by the American people—are not discarded, “Republicans would be rightly reluctant to participate.”
Reps. Boehner and Cantor also asked if President Obama plans to introduce a new reform proposal prior to the Feb. 25 meeting. “Our ability to move forward in a bipartisan way through this discussion rests on openness and transparency,” they wrote.
In their letter, the GOP leaders also asked that all future health care discussions meet a common-sense standard of “openness and transparency.”
Responding to the letter, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement Monday that President Obama, while open to new ideas, is not willing to drop his support for the House and Senate bills.
“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 hard-working Americans, getting control of rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficit,” Mr. Gibbs said in the statement.
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