海角大神

Within moments of the release of President Obama鈥檚 healthcare plan Monday morning, top Republicans came out swinging.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, in a statement, claimed the bill 鈥渟lashes Medicare for our seniors,鈥� raises taxes, fines those who 鈥渄on鈥檛 buy the right insurance,鈥� and 鈥渇urther expands the role of government鈥� in personal decisions.

House GOP leader John Boehner complained that 鈥渢he president has crippled the credibility of this week鈥檚 summit by proposing the same massive government takeover of healthcare based on a partisan bill the American people have already rejected.鈥�

Mr. Boehner added that the Thursday summit between Mr. Obama and bipartisan congressional leaders, which is to be televised, 鈥渉as all the makings of a Democratic infomercial.鈥� He did not go so far as to announce a Republican boycott of the meeting, but that possibility remains.

Republicans had wanted Obama to start from scratch on healthcare reform, a suggestion the White House rejected, or at least to adopt the GOP's step-by-step approach to reducing healthcare costs.

GOP leaders say they will not release a new plan of their own in the run-up to Thursday's summit.

"Republicans have been releasing bills and proposals and step-by-step plans for a year," says Don Stewart, a senior aide to Republican Senate leaders. "Americans don't want another 2,700-page bill. They want a step-by-step plan."

With such a low level of bipartisan goodwill heading into the meeting, the real question may be whether the Democrats can agree among themselves how to proceed 鈥� and whether they can cobble together simple majorities in both houses of Congress to pass fixes to the Senate version via a procedure known as reconciliation.

The early, tentative signs show hope for the White House. In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the administration鈥檚 proposal 鈥渃ontains positive elements from the House and Senate-passed bills.鈥� The two bills overlap significantly but not completely 鈥� creating a major logistical hurdle when the Senate Democrats lost their 60-vote filibuster-proof majority last month. If no Republicans are willing to go along with the Democrats in the Senate, the Democrats will have no choice but to go the reconciliation route or give up altogether.

For the past month, Speaker Pelosi has maintained that she did not have the votes to pass the Senate plan in the House, which would have been one way to finish healthcare reform without requiring another Senate vote. Now, the Obama administration says it is open to the use of budget reconciliation to finish the reform, a technique that requires only a simple majority in each house. Only aspects of the reform that affect the budget would be eligible for reconciliation.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D) of New York, one of the House鈥檚 more vocal liberals, on Monday called Obama鈥檚 proposal a 鈥�51-vote plan and not a 60-vote plan.鈥� 鈥淭hat is great news,鈥� he said in a statement. 鈥�Democrats wasted a year bowing to the altar of Olympia Snowe, Joe Lieberman, and Ben Nelson and it got us nowhere.鈥�

All three are senators 鈥� Ms. Snowe is a moderate Republican, Mr. Lieberman an Independent Democrat, and Mr. Nelson a conservative Democrat 鈥� who garnered attention as they sought to shape healthcare reform to their liking.

Thursday鈥檚 summit may just be a way station on the road to budget reconciliation.

"Reconciliation is the only option they've got," says Henry Aaron, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "That's what Thursday is all about: They want to reframe the debate, point out Republican intransigence, and give Democrats in both houses cover to support reconciliation for such a bill."

Former Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, a moderate Republican, sees the summit as 鈥渉igh political theater鈥� but without much chance of winning Republican support.

鈥淎ll of a sudden, you bring in TV cameras, you know this is theater,鈥� said Mr. Davis, now president and CEO of the Republican Main Street Partnership, at a Monitor breakfast Monday. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think [Republicans] are going to come in and sign a deal,鈥� he added. 鈥淏ut it is going to be very interesting to watch.鈥�

Staff writer David Cook contributed to this report.

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