GOP to Offer Private-Sector Plan

Republicans plan to offer ideas rooted in the private sector for fixing the U.S. health-care system at President Obama’s summit Thursday. But they don’t plan on matching Democrats measure-by-measure, or giving away their perceived advantage on the issue. "You will not see from us a 2,700-page comprehensive rewrite of one-sixth of our economy," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The GOP hopes to show the health-care bill to be too expensive and radical, and that the party takes the issue seriously. At least 19 Republican members of Congress will attend Obama’s summit, and aides say they will argue that job creation should be prioritized over health care, and that the bill would explode the deficit. And they expect the president to pick at weaknesses in the GOP plan. "We're fully aware of the president's skills," a Republican aide said. "But this is a debate we've been winning for the last eight months."