President Barack Obama on Sunday invited Congressional Republicans to take part in a bipartisan televised summit on health care reform later this month.

'I want to consult closely with our Republican colleagues,' Obama said in an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric.

'What I want to do is to ask them to put their ideas on the table...I want to come back and have a large meeting, Republicans and Democrats, to go through, systematically, all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward,' he added.

The invitation is the latest effort by Obama to push forward his healthcare reform agenda, which took a serious blow last month when Scott Brown (R-MA) won Massachusetts' special US Senate election, denying Senate Democrats the filibuster-proof 60 vote majority they needed to push healthcare reform forward.

Republican leaders were quick to respond to Obama's invitation, with House Republican leader John Boehner (R-OH) saying he looks forward to being involved and is pleased 'that the White House finally seems interested in a real, bipartisan conversation on health care.'

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also said he is interested in participating, saying he welcomes 'the opportunity to share ideas with the president.'

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) was less enthusiastic about meeting with Republicans, saying he has tried several times in the past to hold constructive meetings with them on healthcare reform, but was 'disappointed that these meetings did not result in any serious follow-through to work together in a bipartisan fashion.'

Meanwhile, the White House insisted that the meeting is not President Obama's way of attempting to start over with healthcare reform, which would negate over a year's worth of progress.

'This is not starting over,' said a White House official to the Washington Post. 'Don't make any mistake about that. We are coming with our plan. They can bring their plan.'

Source: Political: Obam...