With diminishing public support, time is running out for Obama to get his health care reform bill through Congress. Now that the holiday weekend is over, lawmakers are back to work and are trying to come up with a compromise in order to get the bill passed. Check out the following article explaining the latest activity on Capitol Hill courtesy of the Associated Press.
In a fresh sign of divisions in the president's own party, a key House Democratic moderate said he can no longer support legislation that includes a new public insurance plan to compete with private industry.
And in the Senate, any hope of bipartisan agreement hung in the balance as a small group of negotiators on the pivotal Finance Committee prepared to meet in a last-ditch effort to reach consensus on a compromise bill.
Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., took the lead in July in negotiating changes to House Democrats' health overhaul bill to make it more palatable to moderates. He voted for it in committee with a public plan — something most House liberals say they can't do without.
But Ross said Tuesday that after hearing from constituents during the August recess he could not support a bill with a public plan.