Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, tells National Review Online that he is “not the lead guy” for the GOP as it prepares for President Obama’s health-care summit, but he believes “it is worth making an effort to try and make [the talks] substantive.”

“I have no idea whether this summit will be political theater or not,” Gregg says. “I would like to get something constructive done. So, when the president asked for ideas, I decided to send him a letter with the ideas I’ve been promoting for quite some time. My purpose was to put into play a bunch of proposals that I think make sense and move toward getting health care under control in a market-oriented way.”

The White House, it appears, may not be taking the summit as seriously as Gregg. “[Thursday] was the first day I was contacted about [the summit], and I think the call was generated only after a [Politico] story was published about my interest.”

Is Gregg ready to propose a new legislative package? “Probably not,” he says. “I think it makes more sense to put ideas out there as concepts first. That being said, there are things out there that we can certainly do without a major bill, from malpractice reform to expanding HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accessibility Act). But, for now, we should first start the talks conceptually, not legislatively.”

Gregg makes sure to note that tinkering with the current health-care bills won’t work. “We need to start over on this,” he says. “Both the Senate and House bills are massive expansions of government — in both the areas of spending and health-policy management. I could not support either of them.” Still, he says, “I was a sponsor of the Wyden-Bennett bill and supported the basic concepts of the Burr-Coburn bill.” A “healthy dialogue is possible,” he says. “I’m taking the president at his word.”