Robert Pittenger: “I was frankly disappointed and really perplexed yesterday when the President of the United States called a meeting in…”

“I was frankly disappointed and really perplexed yesterday when the President of the United States called a meeting in the White House and asked the Speaker of the House to come and meet. He asked the leader of the Democrats in the House to come and meet. He asked the majority leader in the Senate to meet. And at the same time, his pressman, Jay Carney, was on TV saying: We're not going to negotiate. When they ended the meeting, Senator Reid and Ms. Pelosi said: We're not going to negotiate. Mr. Speaker, I'm aware that this bill has been 50 years in the making. The Democrats have wanted to nationalize health care for 50 years. They found their political timing to do it when they controlled the House and the Senate, when President Obama was President, and with a total partisan vote, they got what they wanted--even without even reading the bill. As Ms. Pelosi said: We're going to pass it and then we're going to read it. Yet Mr. Obama has said that House Republicans are on an ideological crusade, Mr. Speaker. His staff has referred to us as suicide bombers. Really? You know, Mr. Speaker, we were all elected to serve our constituents. The President was, and so was I. So was the Speaker of the House. We don't have a monarch in this country, Mr. Speaker, we have a representative government, and our role is to listen and to respond to our constituents. They are writing us, they're emailing us constantly telling us their concerns.…”