President Obama Tuesday met with Senate
Democrats at the White House to discuss healthcare reform. While
reports reflect the President's statements cautious optimism and
his effort to infuse his fellow Democrats with an added sense of
urgency about the legislation, a number of analyses cast doubt
on prospects for passage before Christmas. ABC World News
(12/15, lead story, 2:30, Gibson) reported, "The President said
[Tuesday] he is cautiously optimistic he'll be able to sign a
bill by Christmas. But that's less than two weeks away -- not
much time" and "not many good omens." ABC (Karl) added, "There
is a reason the President is only cautiously optimistic. Even
after his forceful message today, Democrats still don't have the
60 votes they need to pass the bill."
McClatchy (12/16,
Lightman) reports that "Obama tried mightily Tuesday to jolt the
Senate's stalled healthcare overhaul effort, but after an
hour-long closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats, the fate of
his top 2009 domestic priority remains unclear." McClatchy adds
that "time for pre-Christmas action is running out...because
Senate rules are likely to require several days of procedural
votes that will need 60 members to cut off debate." Moreover,
"many Democrats remained circumspect about the bill." Sen. Evan
Bayh (D-IN) said Tuesday, "We're all being urged to vote for
something and we don't know the details of what's in it."
The New York Times
(12/16, A32, Stolberg, Pear) notes that Obama "is confronting an
increasingly sharp divide on the Democratic left, with liberals
in the Senate and the House split on a critical question: How
much of what they want is enough?" Senate "liberals signaled on
Tuesday that they would hold their noses and vote for a version
of the measure that would strip out some of their most cherished
provisions, including an expansion of Medicare and the
possibility of a government-run insurance plan." But "the House
seemed unwilling to fall in line. The majority leader,
Representative Steny H. Hoyer (D) of Maryland, said flatly on
Tuesday that the House would not 'simply take the Senate bill'
and adopt it unchanged."
The Washington Times
(12/16, Haberkorn) reports, "Obama told reporters after the
meeting that the Senate's bill...meets all the standards that he
originally requested in an address to a joint session of
Congress in September." However, "he also acknowledged that the
emerging compromise will not make all his fellow Democrats
happy." Obama said, "The final bill won't include everything
that everybody wants." He added, "No bill can do that. But what
I told my former colleagues today is that we simply cannot allow
differences over individual elements of this plan to prevent us
from meeting our responsibility to solve a long-standing and
urgent problem for the American people."
The Boston Globe
(12/16, A1, Wangsness, Milligan) covers the story on its front
page. AFP (12/16, Knox), the
Wall Street Journal (12/16,
Hitt, Adamy, subscription required),
Roll Call (12/16, Drucker, Pierce, subscription
required), and The Hill
(12/16, Zimmermann, subscription required) also report on the
White House meeting.
