Cheap Tricks: Dems Undermine Obama's Call for “Bipartisan” and “Transparent” Health Care Talks

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH): By scheming to pass the massive government takeover of health care the American people have already rejected, are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi undermining President Obama’s stated desire to have a “bipartisan” and “transparent” dialogue on this issue?

House GOP leaders have challenged Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi to respond to news reports that they are rushing to finalize a backroom deal amid increasing questions about the credibility of the proposed White House health care summit.  It has previously been reported that President Obama hopes to walk into the summit with a backroom “agreement in hand.

CongressDaily reports that in addition to verifying the existence of a potential backroom deal, Speaker Pelosi’s top health care adviser has outlined the legislative “trick” Democrats would use to jam it through:

”’…[T]he plan is to have President Obama sign the Senate bill before signing the legislation making the changes, even though Congress will approve them in reverse to satisfy skeptical House members who refuse to pass the Senate bill before changes are made.

”’The trick in all of this is that the president would have to sign the Senate bill first, then the reconciliation bill second, and the reconciliation bill would trump the Senate bill,’ Wendell Primus told health policy experts gathered at the National Health Policy Conference hosted by AcademyHealth and Health Affairs. …

”Primus also mentioned bill drafters would need to use certain language to ensure the plan works, although he did not elaborate. ‘There's a certain skill, there's a trick, but I think we'll get it done,’ he said.”

The Speaker’s top health care aide also confirmed that this “pre-negotiated package” would include the sweetheart deals Democrats made with their liberal special interest allies before the Massachusetts special election. Sure enough, The Christian Science Monitor reported today that special interest groups are calling on Democrats to finalize a health care bill in advance of the proposed health care summit.

New questions are also being raised about the President’s commitment to a bipartisan dialogue:

• “Obama Says Bipartisanship, But What He Wants Is GOP Surrender … Mr. Obama said he ‘won't hesitate to embrace a good idea from my friends in the minority party.’ But he wants his way. … When a sitting president calls for bipartisanship by the opposition – he really means surrender.” (CBS News, 2/9/10)
• “Despite All The Nice Talk, Partisanship Reigns. Partisanship is reaching new heights in Washington, even as President Barack Obama makes almost daily pleas to get along.  He's scheduled a bipartisan health care summit, and just Tuesday he hosted GOP leaders at the White House for the first time in two months. But he often undercuts his overtures with his own jabs at Republicans.” (Associated Press, 2/9/10)

The American people don’t want Democrats’ job-killing health care bill, and they certainly don’t want another backroom deal steeped in secrecy and suspicion. For Democrats, it’s as if Massachusetts never happened…

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Tags: conservative democrats, government healthcare, Harry Reid, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, transparency, US House To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!