Obama Delays Trip, Democrats Frantically Hunt for Votes

By Major Garrett, Chad Pergram and Trish Turner

President Obama delayed for three days his trip to Indonesia and Australia, an announcement meant to give frantic House Democratic leaders more breathing room for what appears to be the final, make-or-break push to pass comprehensive health care reform.

Senior White House staff told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid late Thursday Obama would bow to their wishes and remain in Washington for face-to-face time with restive, fence-sitting House Democrats. Obama had promised to the work the phones from overseas, but top Democratic aides in Congress said the leadership felt it need Obama's personal touch in Washington to have any realistic chance of pushing his signature domestic initiative across the finish line.

Friday on Capitol Hill, Democrats signaled they are moving closer to a vote. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-NY said "There's been a tidal change in the past 72 hours that we're going to get this done."

"I hope the vote will be in the next 10 days," House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina said as he hustled down a Capitol corridor to yet another closed-door meeting with the party rank-and-file to discuss unresolved issues of policy, procedure and timing.

Obama is now scheduled to leave Washington March 21. House Democratic leaders early Friday began informing lawmakers they will work through the March 20-21 weekend. The goal, and all previous ones, have slipped for various reasons, is a House vote on the underlying Senate health care bill and an as-yet undrafted bill of "fixes" on March 21.

If Democrats meet this new deadline, the Democratically-controlled Senate would commence work on the "fixes" bill March 22, with a goal of moving it through the chamber on a simple-majority vote through a procedure known as reconciliation that would side-step the 60-vote filibuster.

After three days of intense meetings with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and White House health care czar Nancy-Ann DeParle, however, policy issues remain unresolved. And Democrats cannot obtain a reliable cost estimate from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office until the final "fix" legislation is drafted.

After Thursday's meeting, the White House and Democrats couldn't seem to agree on what had been accomplished.

"Made a lot of progress," Emanuel told reporters afterward. "Made a lot of decisions."

A spokesman for Reid moments later told reporters: "No decisions were made."