UPDATED--President Obama has invited Republican and Democratic leaders to discuss stalled healthcare legislation Feb. 25, he said in an interview with CBS' anchor Katie Couric.
In that interview, Obama said he wants Republicans "to put their ideas on the table."
House Minority Leader Boehner was quick to take up the president's offer.
"Obviously, I am pleased that the White House finally seems interested in a real, bipartisan conversation on health care," Boehner said in a statement this afternoon. "The American people have overwhelmingly rejected both of the job-killing trillion-dollar government takeover of health care bills passed by the House and Senate."
Boehner repeated his previous stance that the healthcare legislative effort should start over and that both the House and Senate Democratic bills be abandoned.
Senate Minority Leader McConnell made the same suggestion. "If we are to reach a bipartisan consensus, the White House can start by shelving the current health spending bill, and with it their goal of slashing a half trillion dollars from Medicare and raising a half trillion in new taxes," he said in a statement.
"Setting these proposals aside would be a sign that the administration and Democrats in Congress are listening to the country and are truly interested in a bipartisan approach," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Reid said Senate Democrats "have promoted the pursuit of a bipartisan approach to health reform from day one."
But Reid said "as we continue our work to fix our broken health care system, Senate Democrats will not relent on our commitment to protecting consumers from insurance company abuses, reducing health care costs, saving Medicare and cutting the deficit."
The White House says the session will involve Republican and Democratic leaders from both houses of Congress, and will probably be held at Blair House, which is across the street from the White House.
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