Rep. Eric Cantor (R., Va.), the House minority whip, tells National Review Online that President Obama’s plan for a bipartisan health-care summit is a “hopeful sign that the president is willing to look at the solutions being offered from our side.” Still, Cantor says he is “doubtful” that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) will “go along with any of this.”

“Speaker Pelosi controls the gates to the House floor and has yet to give up on the public option or her bill,” Cantor says. “While it is positive that the president is rhetorically embracing bipartisanship, true bipartisan negotiations would entail Speaker Pelosi admitting that the Democrats’ year of pushing a government-controlled health-care system has failed and that it is time to start over, come together, and find ways to bring down costs without taxing businesses.”

Cantor is pleased that the summit, scheduled for February 25, will be televised. “After so many backroom meetings behind closed doors, it’s healthy to ventilate the discussion,” he says. “We were able to have a healthy discussion with the president in Baltimore at the House GOP retreat.” That exchange, he says, “proves that Speaker Pelosi is the big loser in all of this because she continues to avoid having a similar forum in the House — the place where such debates are really needed.”