Obama invites legislators to health summit

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday challenged Republicans and Democrats to participate in a televised summit this month to thrash out a deal on health care.

House Republicans greeted the invitation to the Feb. 25 event with derision, casting doubt on whether it would yield any bipartisan agreement to extend coverage to millions of Americans and rein in medical costs.

"We need answers before we know if the White House is more interested in partisan theater than in facilitating a productive dialogue about solutions," said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was more receptive, saying he would work with the Obama administration "to maximize the effectiveness of the meeting."

The summit is considered a last, best attempt to revive Obama's yearlong quest, which is stalled after Democrats lost their filibuster-proof Senate majority.

Yet since Obama proposed the summit last weekend, both Republicans and Democrats have voiced skepticism, with some in the GOP wondering if it would be nothing but a spectacle that could benefit the president at their expense.

By presiding over a meeting with 37 lawmakers trying to get a word in edgewise, Obama may be able to dominate the conversation and the visual images.

In the invitation, Obama said remaking health care was imperative. He challenged Democrats and Republicans to come up with comprehensive bills before the Blair House event, legislation that would be posted online.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius cited the recent 39 percent rate increases by Anthem Blue Cross in California as urgent proof the overhaul must be completed.

"As the president noted this week, if we don't act on comprehensive health-insurance reform, this enormous rate hike will be 'just a preview of coming attractions,' " they wrote.

The letter was sent to McConnell; Boehner; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Obama named 21 lawmakers he wants to attend: the top leaders in the House and Senate and of the committees with jurisdiction over health-care legislation. He also invited the top four leaders to bring four more lawmakers each, bringing the total to 37: 20 Democrats and 17 Republicans.

Before the invitation, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., a physician and head of the Republican Study Committee, dismissed the summit as "simply an attempt by the president to use the White House as a political tool to intimidate his way into a government takeover of health care. The American people and Republicans in Congress will not be taken by this Chicago-style politics."

Officials from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation also have been invited.