Overlooking All Of Summer, Sen. Sessions Praises Sen. Grassley's Bipartisan Work On Health Care

December 08, 2009 7:58 pm ET — Chris Harris

While debating health care on the floor of the Senate, Sen. Jeff Sessions praised Sen. Chuck Grassley for "work[ing] so hard to see if he could get a bill that would be bipartisan that we all could support."

Grassley? Working hard to see if he could get a bill that would be bipartisan?

Nothing could be further from the truth. Sen. Grassley, the lead Republican on the infamous "gang of six," is an obstructionist to his core.

He made headlines by saying:

Health care reform will give the government the power to "pull the plug on grandma,"

"I take pride with being an obstructionist."

"I don't think it's going to be possible to work it out with the administration."

"The only way to get a bipartisan agreement is to defeat a Democratic proposal."

In contrast, Democrats have reached out to Republicans at every turn - often to the dismay of their supporters:

President Obama: "I think that there are some of my Republican friends on Capitol Hill who are sincerely trying to figure out if they can find a health care bill that works. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Olympia Snowe from Maine have been... they are diligently working to see if they can come up with a plan that could get both Republican and Democratic support."

President Obama: "My attitude has always been, let's see if we can get this done with some consensus. I would love to have more Republicans engaged and involved in this process." [Obama Interview with Michael Smerconish, 8/20/09]

President Obama: "I know that you have reached out to Republican colleagues, as I have, and that you have worked hard to reach a bipartisan consensus about many of these issues. I remain hopeful that many Republicans will join us in enacting this historic legislation that will lower health care costs for families, businesses, and governments, and improve the lives of millions of Americans

President Obama: "The reform we're talking about won't focus on Democratic ideas or Republican ideas, but on ideas that work."

Robert Gibbs: "Our goal is to get this done in a bipartisan way... There are several more weeks to go in potential negotiations between Republicans and Democrats. I don't know why we would short circuit any of that now."

Sen. Max Baucus said Democrats "remain committed to continuing our path toward a bipartisan health care reform bill."