President Barack Obama has left Democrats as confused as ever over how the White House plans to deliver a health care reform bill this year, following two weeks of inconsistent statements, negligible hands-on involvement and a sudden shift to a jobs-first message...Read more...

President Obama’s pledge at a fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee to keep fighting for major health care legislation seemed altogether detached from the legislative realities on Capitol Hill, where dejected Democrats have been casting about for a way to salvage the health care bill... Read more...

No, maybe he can't. President Barack Obama, who insisted he would succeed where other presidents had failed to fix the nation's health care system, now concedes the effort may die in Congress... Read more...

House Democrats are going to force their Republican colleagues to vote on a resolution opposing the privatization of Social Security. The move shows Democrats are putting their full political muscle into painting the Republicans as enemies of Social Security and using the chief GOP budget writer Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to cut benefits as evidence...Read more...

Speaking to enthusiastic supporters at a fundraiser here, President Obama on Thursday evening presented his clearest plan yet to move forward with comprehensive health care legislation, saying that he wanted to meet with Democrats, Republicans and independent experts, lay out the facts for the American people and then, he said, “I think that we have got to move forward on a vote.”... Read more...

The health care bill is in trouble, but a series of narrow deals — each designed to win over a wavering senator or key interest group — is alive and well, despite voter anger over the parochial horse-trading that marked the rush toward passage before Christmas...Read more...

Medicare beneficiaries face a steep cliff in their coverage for physical therapy and similar treatments due to Congress’s failure to enact a healthcare reform bill... Read more...

Senate Democrats held back from asking President Barack Obama about healthcare reform during a carefully scripted question-and-answer session in front of television cameras. But once the president left and reporters were escorted out of the room, senators pressed White House officials about healthcare reform, according to those at the meeting...Read more...

President Barack Obama exhorted Democrats to "finish the job" on a health care overhaul Wednesday, but his comments failed to bridge deep divisions within his party. Addressing a gathering of Senate Democrats, Obama insisted that lawmakers have an opportunity to remake the nation's system of medical care... Read more...

As it turns out, Senate Democrats may not be able to force healthcare legislation through the chamber on a simple majority vote. Republicans say they have found a loophole in the budget reconciliation process that could allow them to offer an indefinite number of amendments... Read more...

With their sweeping health-care bill on hold, House Democrats plan to revive a sliver of the legislation as soon as next week that would repeal an antitrust exemption for insurance companies... Read more...

Leading lawmakers hoping to revive President Barack Obama's stalled health care overhaul have started writing a compromise bill, but it's unclear when the legislation will be ready for votes, a top House Democrat said...Read more...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says there are no procedural hurdles facing the Senate if it wants to take the necessary steps to make sure health care reform passes...Read more...

Don't look now. But even as the bank bailout is winding down, another huge bailout is starting, this time for the Social Security system. A report from the Congressional Budget Office shows that for the first time in 25 years, Social Security is taking in less in taxes than it is spending on benefits... Read more...

President Barack Obama's modest health care budget may be a harbinger of what's ahead if his overhaul plan dies in Congress. The budget released Monday contains lots of respectable ideas to squeeze savings, expand coverage and improve quality, but no ambitious change that launches the nation on a path to health care for all... Read more...

Congress has just one month to move legislation preventing steep cuts in Medicare payments to physicians. At the end of February, a short-term measure enacted late last year will expire, exposing doctors who treat Medicare patients to a 21 percent reduction in their fees...Read more...

Healthcare is not dead, according to a high-ranking Democratic lawmaker -- a point conceded by the top House Republican...Read more...

In a rare display of bipartisanship, a top House Democrat agreed to back a Republican lawmaker's quest for details of closed-door deals the White House made with industry insiders to produce a healthcare reform bill...Read more...

President Barack Obama's health care appeal failed to break the congressional gridlock Thursday, dimming hopes for millions of uninsured Americans... Read more...

Democratic congressional leaders said on Thursday they would keep pushing for a stalled healthcare overhaul and would explore all options to pass it, but acknowledged the process would not move quickly... Read more...

Democrats in Congress said all the right things Thursday to show they were dutifully heeding the president’s call to keep plugging away on a health reform bill. But listen more closely, and it’s clear health care is already falling to the back of the legislative line, behind the Democrats’ feverish new focus on jobs and the economy...Read more...

House leaders plan to bring small-scale health care legislation to the floor before the chamber leaves for its Presidents Day recess on Feb. 11, aides to Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday... Read more...

With Democrats in Congress looking for a way out of the health care impasse, President Barack Obama offered them words of encouragement but little else —no concrete plan to jump-start progress on a bill, no timeline for getting it done and no guidance on what he wants to see in what was once his top legislative initiative... Read more...