1/28/10 - "Obama gave lawmakers no specific guidance on how to move forward"

[Clio the Leo]

How soon we forget....

After Obama speech, health bill logjam remains
updated 1:14 p.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 28, 2010

WASHINGTON - The morning after President Barack Obama urged Congress to finish the job on health care overhaul, a key moderate Democrat on Thursday likened the sweeping legislation to a patient hovering near death.

"I think it's on life support, but it still has a pulse," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. "If there is a way forward, some of us are really committed to finding it. It doesn't look clear how we're going to move it."

Another Senate moderate, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, had a similar assessment.

Asked if it's possible that no health care bill will emerge this year, Pryor responded: "I think it is a real possibility — I don't know that it's a probability.

"It's very possible that health care is just a stalemate and you can't solve it this year," he said.

The downbeat assessments came even as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reaffirmed her resolve to revive the bill, which has been in limbo since Democrats lost their 60-seat Senate majority in a Massachusetts election last week.

Obama gave lawmakers no specific guidance on how to move forward in his State of the Union message, and some lawmakers said they would have liked to hear more details. Several warned that Obama will need to make a sustained effort to nudge the legislation to the finish line.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35126009/ns/politics-health_care_reform/