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 By Any Legislative Means Necessary - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 8/20/09 — Thursday, August 20, 2009 —  Q The spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that while they intent to -- their hope is that it will be a bipartisan health care reform effort, they will get health care reform accomplished "by any legislative means necessary." And I'm wondering if you could walk us through -- obviously people in the White House have been talking to each other, strategizing about different ways that this can be done. First of all, could you comment on today's Wall Street Journal story about the discussions about possibly splitting up the bill? But also, what are the thoughts -- obviously we all know that your intention is that it be a bipartisan bill, but beyond that what are you planning for?MR. GIBBS: I said this this morning. I have -- I read the story in the Journal. I've tried to get guidance from people. I have not been able to, largely because many people we get that from are on vacation. We'll try to get you better guidance on that in terms of splitting up bills. Q Jon, if you could give Robert the numbers? (Laughter.) Q That would be good. MR. GIBBS: I mean, Jonathan's story also had in there that the President was going to meet with advisors next week on this, and as I said in the gaggle this morning, unless that is a meeting that includes Marvin on a golf course, that's -- Q I did not say that. MR. GIBBS: Can somebody go get me the newspaper Q That was not supposed to be on the budget. That was just supposed to be on the -- MR. GIBBS: Maybe Jonathan could clear it up for both of us. (Laughter.) Q Are you going to take questions? (Laughter.) MR. GIBBS: Sounds like he needs to. (Laughter.) No, let me discuss a little bit -- obviously, our focus, as I said yesterday, is on continuing this process in a bipartisan fashion. You heard the President say that again today. He's reached out and spoken with members of Congress, including members of the Finance Committee over the past several days. Q Republican members of Congress? MR. GIBBS: Yes. He talked with Senator Olympia Snowe yesterday, talked with Senator Conrad yesterday, and, as we've discussed, talked with Senator Baucus on Friday. That's our focus, is continuing to work this in a bipartisan way. I know the six senators on the Finance Committee have a conference call slated, according I think even to Jonathan's report and others, that -- have a conference call on that tonight. Q Does the White House have a presence on that conference call? MR. GIBBS: Not that I'm aware of, no. I think this is part of the regular negotiating sessions that they've had that we have not taken part in. I am trying to get the extent to which conversations have been had here looking into what possibilities are next. I talked to the President briefly about it, and all he said was our focus was on doing something in a bipartisan way. Q Do you agree with what Jim Manley said about by any legislative means necessary -- obviously, bipartisan being the hope and the priority, but you're going to get this done? MR. GIBBS: Well, I think the President has said on a number of occasions that -- excellent, thank you. (Laughter.) Q Wow. Q What is that? MR. GIBBS: That's one, yes. You don't recognize a newspaper, Chuck? (Laughter.) And all he did was mention to me that our focus was on doing so in a bipartisan way. I think he'll continue even when he's out next week to talk to members of Congress, including additional members of the Finance Committee, including Republicans. Q He also said they -- Republicans conspired during the Clinton administration to defeat any health legislation. He indicated they might be doing the same. What do you think is going to break through that? And why do you need them? MR. GIBBS: Well, as I said yesterday, we take people seriously that say they're working and want to work on a bipartisan result for health care reform. I don't think the President is under any illusions that he's going to get every Republican to sign up for his ideas. The HELP Committee approved a piece of legislation with nearly 200 Republican amendments that had been added to it. I think he continues to be hopeful that we can continue to make progress, and until we see otherwise, that's what our focus is. Q Even if all the Republicans are against it? MR. GIBBS: Well, again, we take at face value that people have -- that Republicans that you read about in the newspaper are interested in working on a bipartisan solution to reform the problems that we all understand in health care. Bipartisanship | Congress | Health Care | Legislation | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | White House Press Corps Labels: Bipartisanship, Congress, Health Care, Legislation, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 5:53:00 PM
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