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McCotter Tells GOP to Boycott Summit

House GOP Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) on Tuesday called on Republicans to boycott President Barack Obama’s bipartisan health care reform summit at the Blair House Thursday, just hours after Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Members had an “obligation” to attend.

“Consequently, with due respect for the President and ultimate respect for the American people, the Republican leadership has no choice,” McCotter wrote on conservative blog RedState.com. “It must NOT accept the administration’s disingenuous summit invitation to ‘negotiate.'”

McCotter wrote that Republican attendance at the summit would give the administration credibility it did not deserve. The summit is scheduled three days after Obama unveiled a $950 billion health care bill, which Republicans have universally panned.

“To accept would abet a deceit upon the people; and violate the principle that transparency in government exists to reveal the truth and promote the public’s confidence in their representative institutions, not to foster misperceptions and subvert the public’s confidence in their representative institutions,” he wrote.

Boehner told reporters Tuesday morning that he and other Republicans would likely heed the president’s invitation but would use the forum to promote their ideas for health care reform.

McCotter argued that Obama had already determined the outcome of the summit and would use it to make Republicans look bad.

“The summit’s goal is to persuade the public that the Republican minority is ‘forcing’ the Democrats’ heavy-handed tactics to foist this abominable bill upon Americans,” McCotter wrote.

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