Obama and Senate Conflicted Over Next Step for Health Care

Republican Scott Brown's special-election victory in Massachusetts has left health care reform with an uncertain fate, and President Obama and Congressional Democrats conflicted over how to move the bill forward.

Brown will occupy Ted Kennedy’s former Senate seat, ending the Democrats’ filibuster-proof super-majority.

Obama says the best option is to scale back his proposed overhaul plan and identify pieces of the bill that both parties can agree on. His modified focus now involves reigning in the insurance industry and controlling health care costs, he said in an interview with ABC news on Wednesday. Universal coverage, The New York Times noted, was not on his list of goals.

"I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on," Mr. Obama said.

Some Democrats support this plan, proposing that the Senate vote separately on widely supported elements of the bill. President Obama cautioned against the other option: rushing a bill through Congress before Brown takes his seat, a goal some House and Senate Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, favor.

"We heard the people, and hopefully we will move forward with their considerations in mind. But we will move forward in the process," Pelosi told the U.S. Conference of Mayors in a speech Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans want to scrap the bill entirely and start again from scratch.