House Democratic Source on March 18 Deadline "on same page now"

A House Democratic leadership source tells Fox there is something approaching convergence on the White House's March 18 deadline for a vote on the Senate health care bill.

"Everyone is now on same page," the leadership source said about the March 18 deadline. "We understand the White House believes that would be optimal timing. But they understand we are not wedding ourselves to any deadlines."

On the Today show Wednesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said it was the leadership's "objective" to vote on March 18.

Clear enough?

In reality, the White House isn't budging and the House Democratic leadership is trying. But it can't vote on the Senate bill until it has a fully drafted and CBO (Congressional Budget Office)-scored bill to "fix" the Senate bill's imperfections.

But the so-called "fix" bill isn't ready and there is no expectation CBO will deliver preliminary cost estimates Wednesday. That pushes the schedule back because House Democratic leaders cannot begin the final whip process (counting "yes" and "no" votes) until it has a full "fix" bill with a concrete CBO score on costs, revenues and deficit implications.

In other words, there's a lot of work left to be done and not much time to finish it. What may well be happening is House Democrats and the White House are agreeing to disagree -- on the timing, not the objective.