Gibbs: Only A "Handful" Of GOPers Seem Interested In Health Care Reform

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged on Tuesday that there are only a "handful" of Republicans who seem interested in health care reform -- the closest any senior official has come to admitting that a major bipartisan effort is not in the cards.

Gibbs told reporters that Obama wasn't yet ready to give up on recruiting broad Republican support to a cause. Such a determination, he said, had not "ultimately been made." But the White House's chief spokesman did admit that "only a handful" of Republicans seemed "interested in the type of comprehensive reform so many believe is necessary."

"I think there seem to be many that don't share a desire to see costs cut, increases in coverage and quality to the degree to which others want to see," Gibbs added.

Among many Democrats outside the White House, such an assessment of the health care landscape has already become abundantly clear. Hours before Gibbs spoke, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, (R-Ariz.) said that the GOP would likely oppose a bill even if it was deficit neutral and included co-ops as opposed to a public option for insurance coverage,

Inside the White House, however, the administration has gone to great lengths to insist that all avenues for bipartisanship remain wide open. In early August, the president told a gathering of Democratic Senators that he remained committed to working with Republicans on health care. Slightly more than a week later, Gibbs stressed that Obama still wanted to work with Sen. Chuck Grassley, (R-Iowa), even after the senator had falsely declared that the Democratic agenda would allow the government to "pull the plug on grandma."

The extent to which the White House is willing to continue to search for Republican support on health care continues to be a thorny issue within the Democratic Party. It certainly raises important questions such as: Does compromising on major issues like a public option actually yield tangible bipartisan gains?

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[loki]

02:14 PM on 08/19/2009

only a hand full?? Why are you wasting so much time on them then? Pass public option and get on with it

[Arleen1]

01:47 PM on 08/19/2009

If you call one a hand full. There are no GOP supporters.

[pb28]

01:06 PM on 08/19/2009

Gibbs also said referring to Obama's bipartisan effort “I don't know why we would short-circuit that now” Really you don’t know why. Gee maybe because the republicans want Obama to fall and they said they will never vote for any healthcare bill even if it contains everything the republicans want. How about that by kissing the ass of you enemy you are ignoring you own support and base and producing a worthless bill that does not do any good for anyone.

[community1]

01:02 PM on 08/19/2009

David Plouffe Email: Strategy Meeting With The President
http://www.sefermpost.com/sefermpost/2009/08/david-plouffe-email-strategy-meeting-with-the-president.html

[TovSquirrel]

12:44 PM on 08/19/2009

And only a handful of Democrats, too, it would seem.

Corporate running-dog-lackeys all.

[Nyla785]

10:36 AM on 08/19/2009

Gibbs is right. Republicans have no intention of supporting ANY kind of healthcare reform. They have staked out their ground as 'obstructors' and that's all they are going to do.
The American public needs to start going over their heads to get what they need done, done.

[Teresa201]

10:24 AM on 08/19/2009

The fact is........

If we wanted the GOP to decide our issues...
The would be the majority.

They are not and we don't want them deciding for us.

Take care of business Dems...........Now.

[handypom]

10:56 AM on 08/19/2009

True, the Dems are the majority but I don't want them ALONE deciding for me as I disagree with a good many of their policies. I agree that there is a need for healthcare reform, specifically tort reform, but not reform as the current bill calls for. Just because I disagree with the bill as written, doesn't mean I'm an obstructionist no more than you would be with legislation that you disagree with. It works both ways, you know.

[donttasemebro]

09:47 AM on 08/19/2009

Is he talking about the senate? If so, since when does a "handful" equal two? Snowe and Collins are the only two that are even remotely interested.

[smithonpolitics-com]

09:47 AM on 08/19/2009

Keep the pressure on them folks - make them use reconciliation if they must! http://www.stopbackingdown.com

[Teresa201]

12:31 PM on 08/19/2009

Thank you....signed.

[mollyjackson]

09:33 AM on 08/19/2009

Disinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. It is synonymous with and sometimes called Black propaganda. It may include the distribution of forged documents, manuscripts, and photographs, or spreading malicious rumors and fabricated intelligence. Disinformation should not be confused with misinformation, information that is unintentionally false. Robert Gibbs gives a lot of disinformation, but he does a poor job of it.

[MinisterMelinda]

09:17 AM on 08/19/2009

The Republicans have always been following through on their leader's orders. Limbaugh wants to see Obama fail! He said it because that is the sentiment in the RNC.

[foxbat]

09:06 AM on 08/19/2009

From the article, "Hours before Gibbs spoke, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, (R-Ariz.) said that the GOP would likely oppose a bill even if it was deficit neutral and included co-ops as opposed to a public option for insurance coverage."

That says it all right there in the plainest of forms. It's now official that most in the GOP have decided to collect a paycheck for four years, while doing absolutely nothing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, one of the easiest jobs in the world is being a US Representative or Senator. Where else in the real world do you get a job which you don't even have to be qualified for, get to show up when you want, vote to set your own payrate, get paid for doing absolutely nothing on the job if you desire, have one of the best insurance plans in the world, have a staff to do any real work that you don't want to do, get long extended vations usually reserved for corporate employees with lots of seniority, and get lots of people to pay you money above and beyond your annual salary to turn around and do that again for another two to six years. It's time to start having performance based pay in Congress.

[SwingVoter]

09:06 AM on 08/19/2009

I wouldn't say they are not interested in health care reform. They just want to see this President fail, and even if that means opposing a sensible reform. Politics at its worst.

[SangZe]

09:03 AM on 08/19/2009

Compromise involves a give and take from opposing sides of a debate. There is no credible evidence that republicans are interested in compromise. Though it is unfortunate, it has become necessary for the democrats to act unilaterally and to move on, the sooner, the better.

[Grunty1]

09:18 AM on 08/19/2009

They are only interested in compromisING the bill.

[AxelDC]

08:57 AM on 08/19/2009

Republicans are only interested in discrediting Obama. They know that if he fails at Health Care Reform, he is doomed to become the next Jimmy Carter.

Meanwhile, Obama's backers are distraut at watching him discard all his promises on health care reform, Wall Street regulations, and gay rights to suck up to people who have sworn to submarine him.

It's time for Obama to tell Republicans where to stick and stick up for the people who put him in office. We will never forgive Democrats if they squander their time in the majority because of feckless cowardice.

[MinisterMelinda]

09:16 AM on 08/19/2009

Well said...

[foxbat]

09:36 AM on 08/19/2009

This country was founded by the Founding Fathers, not the Founding Father. If the birth of this nation were set on the shoulders of a single man, it would have never happened. As good as Jefferson was, he needed Adams and Franklin there. As good as Adams was, he need the balance that came from folks like Hancock. And for all of the intellectuals in the Continental Congress, it would have been for naught without Washington in the field. While somewhat grostesque, Franklin summed it up quite nicely when he proclaimed, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.

[Rog49Thomas]

01:30 PM on 08/19/2009

And the Founding Fathers for all the posthumous burnishing of their reputations were just men - no that much different from our current crop of politicians.