Word: boehner
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...points on process isn't really the American public. It's nervous House Democrats wondering about the political costs of voting for reform. "We've got to put all the pressure we can on these Democrats to make sure this bill never, ever happens," says House minority leader John Boehner...
...contrast between the Republican and Democratic presentations at the health care summit is telling. The Republican leaders, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, said very little; they let their members with health care expertise do the talking. The Republican delegation had an average age of 60; it included three medical doctors and young policy wonks like Representative Paul Ryan, 40, of Wisconsin. The Democratic delegation had an average age of 66; it included Charlie Rangel, fresh from his "admonishment" by the House Ethics Committee. In the absence of Ted Kennedy, it had no senior legislative health care expert from the Senate...
...Republicans, convinced that the Thursday meeting will be pure political theater, have been trying to frame it as that ever since the event was announced. First, House Republican leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor sent the White House an open letter calling on the President to scrap the existing Democratic reform bills and "start over." This idea gained no traction, and Republicans realized they could not skip the meeting - it's hard politically to turn down an invitation to be bipartisan. Boehner then sent a follow-up open letter deriding congressional Democrats for "plotting legislative trickery" to pass health reform...
...Boehner was referring to budget reconciliation, a legislative maneuver that would allow the Senate to pass changes to its reform bill with only 50 votes. (Vice President Joe Biden could, in this case, cast a tie-breaking vote.) The White House has been very careful not to explicitly say it intends to pursue a reconciliation strategy, which Republicans insist is a radical, undemocratic move - this, even though the GOP used it during the Bush presidency to pass two rounds of tax cuts. But during a briefing on Monday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said of the approach, "The avenue...
...force a series of politically challenging votes for Republicans, rather than concentrate on passing legislation, will not warm things up. And a recent White House meeting about job growth featured tense exchanges between Obama and both Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and Republican House minority leader John Boehner. There has already been much ugly speculation about the upcoming White House-hosted health care summit: whether it is an actual attempt at bipartisanship or some sort of trap spiked with the telegenic eloquence of the still likable President meant to embarrass Republicans. On the current trajectory, no politician will enter...