Health care summit
WASHINGTON - Two hours into a sometimes-contentious televised health care summit, President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers outlined a few areas where they agree.
WASHINGTON - Call it a summit, a forum or a conference, President Barack Obama loves to bring together government officials and others to spend hours talking through thorny issues, often with cameras welcome.
10:06 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. Welcome. Thank you so much for participating today. I am very grateful to all of you because I know how busy you are.
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama told Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell that time wasn't equally divided between GOP and Democratic talk at the health care summit because "I'm the president."
Obama suggested the time he took talking at the outset of the talks shouldn't be charged to the time allotted Democrats and Republican participants to speak for their parties.
