The Day ObamaCare Died

(Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her chamber lacks the votes to pass the Senate’s health-care legislation, dashing hopes of a quick resolution for President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

“In its present form, without change, I don’t think it’s possible to pass the Senate bill in the House,” Pelosi told reporters today in Washington.

Senate Democrats no longer have the 60 votes they need to overcome Republican delaying tactics and pass legislation after a loss in the Jan. 19 special Senate election in Massachusetts. That means the party had to change course from its plan of combining separate House and Senate bills and sending the new measure back for votes in each chamber.

Passing the Senate plan, as is, would be the quickest option because it could go straight to Obama’s desk for his signature. Democrats are considering scaling back the bills to win passage, and Obama may start a new effort to reach out to Republicans, who have been united in opposing the legislation, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Pelosi, a California Democrat, said she isn’t ruling out anything and that her party remains committed to passing legislation that would cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans and attempt to curb rising medical costs.

Must-Pass Bill

“We have to get a bill passed,” she said.

House Democrats oppose Senate provisions including a tax on the most expensive, employer-provided health-insurance plans, Pelosi said. A House leadership aide said Democrats in the chamber would be open to passing a modified Senate bill, rather than passing the current one and depending on a second piece of legislation later that would make fixes.

“We are not in a big rush,” Pelosi said. Congress will “take the time it needs to consider the options,” she said.

Bringing Republicans back into negotiations increases the chances that a scaled-down measure might pass even with defections by Democrats who want a more far-reaching bill.

Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, didn’t have any immediate comment. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters there have been White House meetings focusing on a scenario that “merges the House and Senate products.”

McCain’s Take

Earlier, Arizona Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said on CBS’s “The Early Show” that Republicans are “more than happy to sit down and start over” on efforts to overhaul the health-care system.

House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said Obama and the Democrats should work with Republicans. Still, “Republicans are not going to work off of this monstrosity,” he said. “There is not enough common ground.”

The new senator-elect from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, arrived in Washington today and said he is open on the issue.

Brown, who will fill the seat of the late Ted Kennedy, told reporters he voted for a health-care overhaul in Massachusetts in what he called “a great bipartisan effort.”

“It’s clear that I wanted coverage for everybody in Massachusetts,” Brown said. “The bill that was being pushed in Washington was not good for Massachusetts.”

Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have spent the last two days talking to their members and trying to plot the next steps. After House Democrats met this morning behind closed doors, several said there is an emerging consensus that breaking the legislation into pieces might be the best path.

‘Some Pieces’

“The sense is we shouldn’t drop the subject, but maybe we need to look at some pieces of it,” said Representative Jose Serrano, a New York Democrat.

That would fit with a suggestion Obama made yesterday.

“I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements in the package that people agree on,” Obama said in an interview with ABC News broadcast last night.

Obama’s preferred elements include new insurance industry rules, such as the elimination of lifetime caps on insurance plans and a ban on insurers denying people coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions, according to an administration official. They also include subsidies to help some individuals afford coverage, and cost-containment steps such as empowering an outside panel to control Medicare spending.

A group of 25 House Democrats have begun circulating draft proposals for smaller bills that would not include an individual or employer mandate, any new entitlement programs, or a public option to compete with private insurers, said New Jersey Representative William Pascrell, who is leading the effort.

Controlling Costs

An initial bill would deal with controlling costs and revising the way doctors and hospitals administer and charge for health care. A second would address the antitrust exemption for insurers and a third would address physician concerns about liability, Pascrell said.

Passing health-care legislation “in micro fashion would allow people to understand what’s in it,” Pascrell said. “I’m saying let’s step back and take this in small steps.”

Pascrell said he had presented his ideas to Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, head of the Democratic conference, as well as Republican leaders who he said are “interested.”

The White House hasn’t decided whether to push for a provision requiring all Americans to have insurance, the administration official said. That’s a clause the insurance industry favors because it would expand the market by millions of customers.