Dems Call a 'Timeout' on Health Care Reform

Compromise looking more distant than ever

(NEWSER) - President Obama's health care summit left pundits from across the spectrum feeling more pessimistic than ever about the chances of crafting a bipartisan agreement on reform.

• "It was a talking-point festival," writes Peggy Noonan at the Wall Street Journal. The Republicans put forth seemingly unconnected statements, and the "boorish" Democrats appealed to sentiment in an effort to win support for a bill that they obviously plan to "bully through Congress."

Aim to prevent procedural hurdles thrown up by GOP in Senate

(NEWSER) - Democrats are “almost certain” to avoid a formal conference to reconcile the House and Senate health care bills, senior Capitol Hill sources say, thereby robbing Senate Republicans of yet more opportunities to stall the bill. If Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi convened a formal conference, there would need to be a series of special motions in the Senate, each with full debate, which the GOP would use to delay the inevitable. More»

Lumbering dinosaur of a bill will fall flat with 21st century voters

(NEWSER) - We live in the age of the iPhone, a world in which you can take your pick of 100,000 apps—and "Democrats are pushing the biggest, fattest, one-size-fits all legislation since 1965," writes Daniel Henninger for the Wall Street Journal. It's not what you'd hope for from our hipster-in-chief. "But the Obama health care bill, and maybe this whole administration, is starting to look totally out of sync with the new zeitgeist, the spirit of the age." More»

But Senate, House leaders not united on public option

(NEWSER) - Harry Reid declared "90% agreement" in the Senate on health care reform today after a meeting with President Obama. Reid and Nancy Pelosi expressed optimism that the president's address to Congress tomorrow will bolster support for reform, the Hill reports. The Senate Majority Leader is confident that the speech will at least defuse some of the “ridiculous falsehoods” that have so far dominated the debate. More»

Marathon sessions fail to reach a deal as tempers fray

(NEWSER) - The Democratic leadership is scrambling to make progress on health care reform before Congress breaks for its August recess, but last night's marathon negotiations failed to break the stalemate—and may even have increased the number of issues up for debate. "We're making progress," Nancy Pelosi said as she left the Capitol. But talks with Blue Dog Democrats aren't moving anywhere, Politico reports. More»