Roll Call is reporting [sub. req.] that President Obama is meeting with Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Bob Corker (R-TN) at 4 p.m. ET today to discuss health care reform. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says three others were invited as well, but, seemingly, did not attend.
That’s an interesting trio for a couple reasons, most obviously because neither senator is really a principal on health care matters. Of the three, only Murkowski–as one of the more junior members of the HELP committee–serves on either of the two committees with jurisdiction over the issue.
But beyond that, each of these senators has said fairly discouraging things about health care reform efforts on the hill. Just today, Murkowski voted against the HELP committee’s overhaul legislation. Last month, she said “the health care reform legislation being pushed in the Senate has not been “carefully crafted” and we still don’t know how this legislation will be paid for…. This is not the kind of health care reform I would support nor is it a plan the nation can afford.”
Likewise, here‘s a lukewarm Corker in the Chattanooga Times Free Press. And Chambliss has spoken out against the idea of a federal “takeover” of the health care system, and even voted against expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Plan.
It’s not immediately clear, in other words, what the President stands to gain from hosting these three.
