GOP hints it might skip healthcare summit

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. House Republican leaders Monday indicated they might be "reluctant to participate" in a healthcare summit proposed by President Barack Obama.

The president said Sunday he has invited Republican and Democratic leaders to meet with him on healthcare reform. In a letter Monday to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Republicans might not attend a summit unless Democrats scrap healthcare reform proposals already approved in the House and Senate.

"If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate," the letter said.

The letter asks whether Obama would agree to eliminate "the possibility" of the Senate using the reconciliation process to approve healthcare reform -- which would have the effect of requiring 60 Senate votes for passage -- and whether the summit would include congressional Democrats "who have opposed the House and Senate healthcare bills."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement saying Obama has been "very clear about his support for the House and Senate bills" and is "open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny."

"What he will not do, however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families and small business counting on it," Gibbs said.