Key House Democrat: Lawmakers 'Far From a Final Product' on Health Reform

After a month of boisterous and at times nearly-violent town hall meetings on health care reform, the second-ranking Democrat in the House said Tuesday that lawmakers are far from producing a final bill on health care reform.

"There is no 'the' bill at this time," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, signaling that changes were coming to the troika of legislation that needs to be blended together into one bill.

Skeptical Democrats took the monthlong summer break to "take a closer look" at the proposed legislation, Hoyer said.

Hoyer, who called the August recess "a learning experience" and "a very useful one," said that he didn't know when the House would potentially vote on a measure. House leaders previously set the first of August as a goal to approve a health care reform package.

"I don't have a timetable," Hoyer told reporters.

Lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill Tuesday, beaten and bruised and a day before President Obama addresses a joint session of Congress on the health care issue.

Hoyer insisted that raucous town hall meetings across the country, during which Democrats heard strong objectives to a government role in health care, were "productive." He said "democracy is not always the process of sweetness and light. It is animated discussion."

According to a Gallup Poll released Tuesday, just 37 percent of Americans support the pending legislation. A slightly larger number -- 39 percent -- want their congressmen to vote against the bill, the poll found.

Many members of Congress held heated meetings in the dog days of summer where supporters were often slammed for backing the $1.5 trillion package, but support for the legislation shifted only slightly from a month ago. Nearly a quarter of those polled by Gallup -- 24 percent -- still have no opinion on the issue.

Earlier Tuesday Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, who has led Democratic moderates in the health care debate, said that after talking to constituents over the August recess he could not support a bill that contained a so-called public option, or a plan run by the government.

Hoyer said that he could vote for a package that didn't include a public option. Previously House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that she didn't think a bill without a public option could pass the House.

"I believe the public option is an option. An option. An alternative. A choice," Hoyer said.

Hoyer and congressional Democrats are facing major opposition to a bill from liberals inside their own party. The Congressional Black Caucus and Progressive Caucus have repeatedly underscored their desire for the legislation to include a public option as a backstop for those who cannot secure insurance through the private sector.

"I hope we don't blow up the whole process here," Hoyer said when asked about the insistence of the most liberal Democrats on Capitol Hill. "I don't think anybody's being recalcitrant. They're stating their views and stating them strongly."

FOX News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.