President Obama Will Hold Meeting With GOP Over Health Care

As heated debates over health care legislation continue to create a stalemate, President Obama appears to be eager to try to make the next step towards possible advancement.

On Sunday he announced that he plans on holding a meeting between Democratic and Republican lawmakers on Thursday, February 25th in order to allow members of both parties to exchange their health care ideas. According to The Wall Street Journal, President Obama revealed his message during a CBS interview with Katie Couric that aired prior to Super Bowl XLIV.

The announcement of this meeting was inspired by the fact that the Democratic Party lost their 60th Senate vote in January due to last month’s Massachusetts election. If they had not lost that vote, the party would have had enough members to force a passing of their health care reform legislation without any support from Republicans.

The scheduling of a bipartisan event that will be held later this month seems to have been received well by Republicans such as House Minority Leader John Boehner. The Ohio Representative commented on the meeting by saying, “I am pleased that the White House finally seems interested in a real, bipartisan conversation on health care. The problem with the Democrats' health-care bills is not that the American people don't understand them. The American people do understand them and they don't like them."