President Obama has announced that he will hold a bipartisan summit with Members of Congress to discuss the health care bills that have already passed both Houses and allow Congressional leaders – especially Congressional Republicans – to bring new ideas to the table.

Given the history of Republican obstructionism on this issue, the offer by the President was an extremely generous one. In fact, it took Republican leadership all of two minutes to completely shoot down the idea and demand Obama and Democrats scrap the health care reform bills that have already been passed. Here’s House Minority Leader John Boehner:

The best way to start on real, bipartisan reform would be to scrap those bills and focus on the kind of step-by-step improvements that will lower health care costs and expand access.

And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:

If we are to reach a bipartisan consensus, the White House can start by shelving the current health spending bill, and with it their goal of slashing a half trillion dollars from Medicare and raising a half trillion in new taxes.

If the only way to get "bipartisan support" is to scrap Democratic ideas and go with Republican ones, this summit won’t get very far.

The quick dismissals of this new summit only highlight the fact that Republicans been brought to the table repeatedly over the last year as health care discussions have progressed, and they’ve aired their ideas many times over. In every instance, their response to offers of negotiation was to say no to any health care reform, and in every instance their alternative ideas were found wanting.

Republicans have had ample opportunities to contribute constructively to the debate.

The President launched his health care push with a bipartisan summit very much like this new one back in March of 2009. Leading Republicans attended, from Senator Chuck Grassley, the highest ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, on down.

At the summit, Senator Grassley used the national podium to fear-monger about the public option, saying that:

"Forcing free market plans to compete with these government-run programs would create an unlevel playing field and inevitably doom true competition. Ultimately, we would be left with a single government-run program controlling all of the market.”

At the same event, the insurance industry’s top lobbyist, Karen Ignagni of AHIP, lied to the President’s face and said that insurance companies were in favor of reform:

"We want to work with you. We want to work with the members of Congress on a bipartisan basis here. You have our commitment. We hear the American people about what’s not working. We’ve taken that seriously. You have our commitment to play, to contribute, and to help pass health care reform this year."

Just months later, the insurance industry would begin funneling tens of millions of dollars to the Chamber of Commerce, who acted as a front group running ads to kill health care reform on behalf of the industry.

The summit produced a report full of ideas [pdf], a great many of which were incorporated into health reform legislation. And yet, Republicans still opposed the very idea of health reform.

After the summit, health care legislation went through no less than five committees in Congress – Ways & Means, Energy & Commerce, and Education & Labor in the House and Finance and HELP in the Senate. In every one of those committees, Republicans were part of negotiations and had the opportunity to advocate for their ideas and offer amendments. In every one of those committees, Republican amendments were indeed accepted into the legislation being written. For example, the HELP committee accepted 160 Republican amendments into their bill. And yet no Republican on any committee, with the exception of Olympia Snowe on the Finance Committee, ended up voting for the legislation in committee.

In the Senate Finance Committee, Republicans got even more opportunities to shape legislation. Chairman Baucus negotiated with the "gang of six," three Republicans and three Democrats, for months, working towards a bipartisan agreement. These were closed-door meetings – the exact type Republicans accuse Democrats of using to "ram through" health care – and yet when it came down to votes, only Olympia Snowe crossed the aisle to vote for the Finance Committee bill.

That Finance Committee bill then became the basis for the bill on the Senate floor. Republicans in the Senate again had opportunities to offer amendments, but when it came time for a vote, even Olympia Snowe was brought in line by the party of NO and not one Republican voted for the bill. Similarly in the House, Republicans offered a whoefully inadequate "alternative" health care bill and then voted en masse – with the exception of Rep. Cao of Louisiana – against health care reform, despite their involvement in the process.

At every step of the way, Republicans continued to say NO to health care reform while offering the same stale "solutions." The fullest display of Republican ideas on health care is evident in the "alternative" health care bill House Minority Leader John Boehner offered as a substitute to the Democratic health care bill in the House.

To recap, the bill offered by Republicans would:

• Allow insurance companies to continue to deny care for pre-existing conditions
• Cover only 3 million more people [pdf], as opposed to 40 million for the Democratic plan
• Raise insurance premiums on those of us who get sick
• Save less money than the Democratic plan

The ideas Republicans rely on to "reform" health care similarly are do-nothing proposals.

• Tort reform? CBO says it wouldn’t cut health care costs.
• Buying insurance across state lines? It’s nothing but a gift to the insurance companies, allowing them to do business in the least-regulated states.
• And then there’s the Republicans’ main money-saver, at least according to the budget the proposed last year: Privatize Medicare and Medicaid, leaving our nation’s old and poor at the mercy of the insurance industry.

Democrats have already given Republicans – the minority party who lost the 2008 elections in a national referendum on their failed policies – an incredibly generous number of chances to inject their ideas into the health care debate. And at every step of the way, Republicans have proposed the same policies that do nothing to solve the health care crisis. And then, even when some of those policies have been adopted, they’ve turned around and voted against health care reform.

It would be nice if Republicans want to help the country solve its health care crisis. But given what’s already happened in the year-long health care reform process, it’s clear that Republicans have already made up their minds not to solve America’s problems and instead say NO for political gain.

It’s up to Congress – Democrats in Congress – to move forward and finish health care reform right by majority rule. It’s what the country voted to give them the majority to do in 2008.

(also posted at the NOW! blog)

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