Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona on Sunday threw more cold water on the chances that his party would cooperate with a Feb. 25 healthcare reform summit at the White House, protesting that Democrats already seem poised to force a bill through Congress.Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Kyl echoed a claim that congressional Republicans have made for the past week, that President Barack Obama and House and Senate Democrats intend the summit as a public display and not a genuine dialogue. He quoted a recent Wall Street Journal article that asserted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has "set the stage" for using reconciliation to pass the bill. That controversial legislative tactic could allow the bill to pass the Senate with 51 votes instead of 60 as usually required to break a filibuster.
"What that means is they've devised the process by which they can jam the bill through that the president has supported in the past, without Republican ideas in it," Kyl told CNN host Candy Crowley.
"Reconciliation is not the process for comprehensive bills like this. It's for balancing the budget... I don't know why we would be having a bipartisan summit down at the White House if they've already decided on this other process by which they're going to jam the bill through."
Instead, Kyl called for redrafting the legislation from scratch -- another common GOP claim in recent weeks -- and argued that it should start with limits on medical malpractice lawsuits.
"It's not a matter of taking this or that out of the Senate-passed bill or the House-passed bill, it's a matter of starting with basic principles and going one step at a time, solving particular problems," Kyl said. "For example, everyone believes there's this 'jackpot justice' system we have and we need medical malpractice reform."
On the package of job-growth provisions that the Senate will take up when it returns from recess on Feb. 22, Kyl said Republicans still object to elements of the plan. He pointed to the Democratic approach to assisting state governments with expanded bonding authority and helping small businesses through tax breaks. Kyl said the federal government cannot afford a "subsidy" to state governments, and that the GOP prefers to assist small businesses by keeping tax rates steady and not allowing any increases.