Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has conceded Democrats lack the votes in her chamber to approve the Senate's health care reform bill as is, killing the best chance for quick passage of President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
The party has had to regroup after the loss of a special Senate election in Massachusetts on January 19th derailed their initial plans to pass a House-Senate compromise bill.
"In its present form, without change, I don't think it's possible to pass the Senate bill in the House," Ms Pelosi told reporters yesterday in Washington. The California Democrat said she isn't ruling out anything and that her party remains committed to legislation that would cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans and attempt to curb rising medical costs.
"We have to get a bill passed," she said.
A group of 25 House Democrats is pushing for passage of smaller bills to address rising medical costs, insurance practices and medical malpractice concerns.
According to a source, Mr Obama is considering a new effort to enlist support from Republicans, who said yesterday that would mean starting the whole process over.
The Massachusetts election, in which Republican Scott Brown won the Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy, a Democrat, took Mr Obama's party by surprise, and a push to make the House pass the Senate bill fell flat over the last two days.
Bloomberg