Republicans signal debate boycott

Washington: Leading House Republicans raised the prospect on Monday night that they may decline to participate in President Obama's proposed health-care summit if the White House chooses not to scrap the existing reform bills and start over.

In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Virginia) expressed frustration about reports that Obama intends to put the Democratic bills on the table for discussion at the summit, which would be held on February 25.

"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," Boehner and Cantor wrote.

Obama proposed the half-day summit on national television on Sunday, but in their letter, the two GOP leaders offer their suspicion that the president is not serious about opening bipartisan negotiations on health care reform.

"‘Bipartisanship' is not writing proposals of your own behind closed doors, then unveiling them and demanding Republican support," Boehner and Cantor wrote. "Bipartisan ends require bipartisan means."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs responded by saying that Obama has sought Republican input since early last year, and that the president remains interested in hearing ideas that the GOP thinks will advance the reform cause.

But he appeared to give little ground on the idea that Obama might abandon the months of work that produced Democratic bills that passed the House and the Senate late last year.