Still Waiting, Still Anxious: GOPers Speak Out On Blunt's Failed Leadership

Though Roy Blunt is hoping Missourians and the press forget about his "guarantee" to deliver a comprehensive health care bill that "costs less and provides better care for the American people," many members of his own caucus have not. The Hill reports:

Some House Republicans are growing frustrated that their leaders have not yet introduced a healthcare reform alternative.

For months, the message from House GOP leaders on a healthcare bill has been similar to ads for yet-to-be-released movies: Coming soon...

Adding to the frustration is the fact that GOP leaders promised in June that they would introduce a leadership-endorsed measure.

Republicans' concerns about Blunt's slow movement -- and now complete inaction -- on health care have been reported for months. 

Here's what The Politico reported in April:

GOP stumbling in health care fight

Republicans look across the health reform battlefield and see the Democrats organized, energized and flush with cash — with several groups lined up to promote the president’s plan, and a message honed by years of preparation.

Then they look into their own camp — and get nervous.

There’s no Republican plan yet. No Republicans leading the charge who have coalesced the party behind them. Their message is still vague and unformed. Their natural allies among insurers, drug makers and doctors remain at the negotiating table with the Democrats.
So Republicans now worry the party has waited so long to figure out where it stands that it will make it harder to block what President Barack Obama is trying to do...

Nobody on the GOP side is waving a white flag. They think some of Obama’s ideas, including a government-run health insurance plan, will be such non-starters with the American people that they can recover in time to stop them.

But they also know the clock is ticking, as key Republican senators engage in bipartisan talks and House rank-and-file meet privately to develop alternative proposals. The House Republican Health Care Task Force will release a “solid” platform within the next month, said a spokesman for its leader, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).

...The advice so far? Republicans cannot just oppose a bill, and they cannot simply recycle the old ideas like health savings accounts and tax breaks.

“We could have come out with the same health care principles that we have always talked about,” Blunt’s spokesman Nick Simpson said Friday. “This group wants to come up with fresh solutions and not just party rhetoric – and that takes some time.”+

We all know how Blunt's "'solid' platform in the next month" promise worked out.

And Blunt's promise about coming up "with fresh solutions and not just party rhetoric."

In June, Republicans were still expressing concern:

When free-market advocates gathered recently for a conference call to discuss the coming health care debate in Congress, the outlook was so grim it drove one participant straight to his computer to lament the situation.

“I have never seen the free-market proponents in a debate as discouraged as they are over health care,” Greg Scandlen, a health expert at the Heartland Institute, wrote on the group’s Web site. The bleak mood, he said, was compounded by the fact that “there was no unity. Everyone has his or her own pet peeve in health care and is uninterested in unifying around a theme.”

Interviewed later, Scandlen had few kind words for Republicans in Congress, who would seem to be natural allies. While they are often criticized for being too ideological, he said, they have displayed no ideology on health care, and not even much real interest. “They are virtually useless,” Scandlen said.“There are a few bright lights, but not many.”

For more on Blunt's failures to come up with an actual health care plan, as he's promised: 

• GOP "very concerned" about the "void" left by Blunt's health care task force
• Blunt Assessment: "They look into their own camp — and get nervous"
• GOP still underwhelmed with Roy Blunt's leadership on health care
• Blunt acknowledges lack of substance in his own health care talking points
• Blunt: Health care hasn't been a priority for House leadership
• Blunt still promising a "Republican Plan" for health care
• Irony Alert: Blunt demands health care reform details from Obama
• Blunt now looking to unveil health care plan "in the coming weeks"
• Still waiting for an affordable health care alternative from Blunt & Co.
• Blunt concerned about grassroots involvement in health care debate
• World moves on without Blunt