“No matter what the cry is from the White House, no matter what the president claims, they have not engaged with us,” he said.

“The White House at this point has shut down, as far as any kind of engagement. I think that the last time that we as a Republican leadership were at the White House was in May, and that’s when they called us in at the beginning of the health care discussion so that they could get our ideas,” Mr. Cantor said. “The president enlisted us and said we want your ideas. [Minority Leader John A.] Boehner and I sent a letter to the White House in response to that request. Nothing.”

The White House disputed Mr. Cantor’s assertion, saying that just last week, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius invited Rep. Tom Price and the Republican Study Committee to sit down and discuss the proposal.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Republicans are welcome to join the discussion – if they offer a comprehensive plan of their own.