By GottaLaff



UPDATE:

The top Democrat in the Senate says lawmakers won't vote until after August on health care, a blow to President Barack Obama's ambitious timetable.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters Thursday the Finance Committee will act on its portion of the bill before Congress' monthlong break. Then Reid will merge that bill with separate legislation already passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The Nevada Democrat says the decision to delay a vote was made Wednesday night in the hopes of getting a final bipartisan bill. [...]

Democratic divisions in Congress stalled President Barack Obama's health care overhaul Thursday, with one frustrated senator urging his colleagues to move faster and a member of the House leadership suggesting lawmakers cancel their August vacation to finish a bill.

"It's time for them to fish or cut bait," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said of members of the Senate Finance Committee, which has struggled to come up with a bipartisan bill to fulfill Obama's goal of expanding coverage to millions who lack it and containing rising costs.

Harkin said the panel has waited too long and should push out a bill with as much support as it can get.

"I am very upset about this, that the Finance Committee keeps dragging their feet and dragging their feet and dragging their feet," he said on a conference call with Iowa reporters.

At the same time nine freshman Senate Democrats, largely from swing states, sent a letter to Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., urging him to keep working toward a bipartisan solution. [...]

On Thursday, leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus said they requested a meeting with Obama after watching the president negotiate with the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats.

"We felt it was important that more than one voice be heard," said Donna Christensen, the congressional delegate for the U.S. Virgin Islands who is leading the black caucus' health care efforts. "When we hear phrases like squeezing more savings out of the system ... we're concerned that what may be taken out will be provisions that are critical to our communities."

The mostly liberal black caucus wants to make sure that any reform retains core provisions such as a public health insurance option that guarantees coverage for everyone.