Luke Russert
From NBC's Luke Russert
After a GOP caucus meeting today, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor argued that health-care reform was increasingly becoming a roadblock to Congress being able to address other important issues facing the country.
Cantor said, "Health care in this building has made it so that it seems we can't get anything else done. We have burning issues out there in this country. First and foremost, Americans want to see job security return; they want to see economic security return. Somehow, they are unable to deliver on that because of the intransigence on the majority's part on even discussing on ways for us to agree on health care.
He continued, "We have serious challenges as far as Afghanistan is concerned, that's being clouded by the rigidity by which this majority hangs on to H.R. 3200 [the House health-care legislation] and the imposition of a public option."
From NBC's Luke Russert
In his weekly pen-and-pad session with Capitol Hill reporters, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) echoed the recent demands of Republican leaders that Afghanistan Commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal, testify before the House and Senate on the current strategy in the war-torn nation.
NBC News asked: "Last week, Mr. Boehner said Gen. McChrystal should come to the Congress to testify about Afghanistan, in wake of yesterdays leaked report that Mr. Woodward published in the Washington Post, John McCain also called for Gen. McChrystal to come testify before Congress immediately, do you think Gen. McChrystal should come here sooner rather than later to talk about what the Afghanistan policy and what the main objective is?"
Hoyer replied: "You know, I think the answer to that is yes. Let me caveat it with you said immediately, I don't know that I think it is necessarily immediately, that means next week so I don't know what McCain meant by immediately, maybe that was your phrase not his."
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From NBC’s Luke Russert
If each chamber passes a health reform bill, there looks to be a showdown approaching during reconciliation over a public option. Liberals in the House are adamant about one being included, but the Senate Finance Committee appears to be headed toward going with a co-op instead.
But today, Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer (D-MD) indicated in his off-camera briefing with reporters to being open to a co-op.
“We think a public option is very important,” he said, but, “We are going to have to see what the Senate does on co-op to see how it’s formulated -- and to see whether or not we preclude that it will have a similar effect. After all a co-op will be a competitor.”
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From NBC’s Luke Russert
House Republican Leaders today strived to portray Democrats as doing too much too soon with regard to health-care reform.
Minority Whip
Eric Cantor (R-VA) mocked familiar themes from the
Obama Campaign when he said at a news conference on Capitol Hill today, "We continue to wonder why it is the president and the speaker have taken the approach of now or never. This is not the type of change I think that people wanted and certainly the my way or the highway approach that is being followed is not offering the hope that people deserve."
Video: The Republicans are planning to mount a serious campaign to stop President Obama's proposed health care reform. Rachel Maddow is joined by former Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean.
Rep.
Mike Pence (R-IN) alluded to the recent impasse Democrats have encountered in the House on health-care reform. "But now House Republicans and a handful of Democrats are on the verge of an historic victory for American taxpayers and for the American health care economy," he said. Pence then encouraged citizens to call their congressman and lend support against the Democratic legislation.
*** UPDATE *** A House leadership aide notes: "Barbour’s presence is a sign that the State Solutions project – which is designed to foster cooperation between Congressional Republicans and GOP governors -- is doing its job." The aide notes for context the Boehner-Tim Pawlenty health-care cost report from Monday. The aide added that Govs. Mike Rounds and Jim Douglas also attended the GOP conference about a month ago and Mitch Daniels has done the Republican weekly address at Boehner’s invitation.
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From NBC’s Luke Russert
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said the Democratic health-reform bill would be on the House floor "not next week but the week after.”
Pelosi continued to champion the release of the Democratic bill proclaiming at her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill, "It's really important for everyone to know that when this bill passes shortly there after, pre-existing medial conditions will no longer bar people from having health care."
According to Pelosi, the House will meet President Obama's deadline to pass the bill.
"I am confident the president will be able to sign legislation in the fall," she said.
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From NBC’s Luke Russert and Domenico Montanaro
In his weekly off-camera briefing with reporters House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said House Democratic leadership will move bills along at a quick pace for the rest of the summer, as President Obama wants to continue to push several big-ticket items.
On healthcare and energy reform: Hoyer said that President Obama, as well as the Democratic leadership, want to "accomplish both of these issues prior to the August break." However, Hoyer went on to say that there is no specific deadline to pass health care or energy reform at this time.
On which bill will be voted on first, Hoyer said that whatever bill goes to the floor first will be based on which one can get out of committee the quickest. Hoyer reiterated that the Democratic leadership does not want to pass one ahead of the other and quite simply that "the scheduling of these bills will be based on the progress made in committee."
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From NBC's Luke Russert
Seeking to keep House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's back-and-forth with the CIA in the news -- despite so much else going on (Sotomayor's SCOTUS nomination, GM's bankruptcy, Obama's upcoming overseas trip) -- House Minority Leader John Boehner once again called for a bipartisan investigation into Pelosi's allegations that the CIA deliberately misled her.
In a news conference on Capitol Hill, speaking for less than two minutes prior to taking questions, Boehner discussed nothing but Pelosi. "Ten days ago, Speaker Pelosi not only refused to back up her accusations against her intelligence professionals, but she actually stood by her comments that they repeatedly lied to her," he said. " Now, the speaker gets regular briefings from our intelligence professionals today. Does she still believe they are lying to her?"
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Continuing his criticism, Boehner remarked that Pelosi should "offer proof that intelligence officials lied to her or retract the statement and offer an apology."
Boehner then reiterated his previous call for a bi-partisan investigation into the issue saying, "This is a matter that is serious and requires a bi-partisan organization to get the facts." Later, Boehner went on to say: "I am disappointed House Democrats continue to stonewall this investigation and my hope is that the Speaker will step up and bring this issue to rest once and for all."
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From NBC's Luke Russert and Mark Murray
Responding to
President Obama's national security speech today, House Minority Leader
John Boehner criticized the president's stance on the closing of Guantanamo Bay. "Republicans oppose releasing these terrorists or importing them into our local communities," he said today at his weekly press conference.
Boehner also accused Obama of holding a "pre-9/11 mentality" in fighting terrorism -- which he argued has made America less safe. "Today, the president spoke a great deal about trust, but he declined to provide Americans with a clear plan for what to do with these terrorists," he added.
"What he did make clear, however, was that despite the overwhelming opposition from the American people and a bipartisan majority here in Congress, he's moving ahead importing terrorists into the United States for trial in our own civilian courts. I think this is a pre-9/11 mentality and I think it'll make our nation less safe. We cannot afford to learn the same lesson twice."
Also in his press conference, Boehner again went on the attack against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her back-and-forth with the CIA. He also noted that House Republicans were introducing a resolution to launch an investigation into Pelosi's allegations that the CIA misled her on the use of waterboarding. As expected, however, the Democratic-controlled House tabled the measure.
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From NBC's Luke Russert
House GOP leader John Boehner says that any government component to health care is akin to "throwing the baby out with the bath water," because it would lead to the demise of all private insurance. He also thinks that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "can't have her cake and eat it too" on the interrogation issue.
At the Republicans leadership's weekly news conference following their caucus' meeting, Boehner addressed questions regarding health care and the recent controversy regarding Pelosi and her knowledge of CIA interrogation techniques used during the Bush administration.
Talking about health care, Boehner said that the president and the Democrats essentially want to push America toward a system similar to Canada's and Great Britain's, where patients have to wait longer for lower quality drugs and important health tests.
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.. to vote? In his latest blog, NBC's Luke Russert breaks down the youth vote from Tuesday's election and finds good news for the Democratic Party.
"In swing states, the youth turnout greatly helped Barack Obama beat John McCain," he writes. "Latino youth went for Obama 76%-19%, showing that Democrats have firmly entrenched themselves with the nation's fastest-growing voting bloc. And Obama's margin of victory in the 18-29 demographic was astronomical (66%-32%), and suggests that the Millennial generation is convinced by the policies and direction of the Democratic Party."
Read more at Luke's blog over at NBC's iCue.com.
