White House Keeps Health Care Debate Alive

July 24, 2009— -- Though the Senate has delayed a vote on health care reform until the fall, President Obama will continue health care meetings with Senate Democrats today, and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said the House is planning to vote on the issue next week.

Asked about the House's timetable during a Thursday night interview with National Public Radio, Emanuel said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told fellow Democratic lawmakers that "their intention is to go next week, and she is working toward that goal."

Today at the White House Obama will discuss health care with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, both Democrats.

Asked Thursday about the Senate's decision to delay a vote on health care legislation until after beyond the August deadline he had originally set, the president said he wasn't disappointed.

"That's OK," Obama said at a town hall meeting Thursday at Shaker High School in Cleveland. "I just want people to keep on working. Just keep working."

"I want it done by the end of this year," Obama added. "I want it done by the fall."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters today that the White House no longer expects a bill to be signed before the lawmakers' August recess, but that the push for reform will continue Gibbs said no one involved in health care reform planning meetings has opted to take August off, and that Obama will travel to North Carolina and Virginia next week to hold health care events.

On Thursday, Reid, D-Nev., laid out new plans, saying the Senate Finance Committee would vote on its pieces of the measure before the Aug. 7 break, and he would then work on marrying that bill with the proposal to come out of a separate Senate health panel.

Reid said the Senate would consider the soon-to-be-merged bill shortly after the Senate returns Sept. 7.

Reid said he's honoring the requests of Republicans asking for more time.

"The decision was made to give them more time for the Finance Committee part of what we're trying to do, and I don't think it's unreasonable," he said.

"It's better to have a product based on quality and thoughtfulness than trying to jam something through," Reid added.

Emanuel told NPR that Capitol Hill committees are getting close to the light at the end of the tunnel. "You're basically three-fifths of the way there, in the sense of committee work, in getting this done," he said.