Obama urgently pushes lawmakers to pass reform bill

President Barack Obama will meet with Senate Democrats at the White House today and urge them pass legislation as a last chance opportunity for comprehensive health care reform.

Politico: "In a provocative argument designed to rescue his foundering health-care plan, President Barack Obama will warn Senate Democrats in a White House meeting Tuesday that this is the 'last chance' to pass comprehensive reform. Obama will contend that if it fails now, no other president will attempt it, aides said. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told POLITICO: 'If President Obama doesn't pass health reform, it's hard to imagine another president ever taking on this Herculean task. ...' Previewing the message, Vice President Joe Biden said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe': 'If health care does not pass in this Congress, ... it's going to be kicked back for a generation.' Biden also sought to tamp down criticism of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Independent who caucuses with the Democrats and who announced Sunday that he could not support the current legislation because of a provision to allow people between the age of 55 and 65 to buy into the Medicare plan. Biden said Tuesday morning on MSNBC: "Say it ain't so. ... Joe is a great guy. ... I think Joe's judgment is wrong on this" (Budoff Brown and Raju, 12/15). 

Roll Call reports that Obama plans an "intense but largely behind-the-scenes effort on health care reform legislation this week." In addition to today's White House meeting, Obama may work the phone and also bring more senators, including both Democrats and Republicans, over to meet with him individually later in the week. "But officials say no speeches or public events on health care are planned for this week. The president for weeks has been avoiding the type of rallies and interviews — marked by a blitz of the Sunday talk shows in September — that characterized the spring and summer. ... Gibbs said Obama was eschewing public events on the health care issue in order to spend more time 'discussing things with those who are going to vote'" (Koffler, 12/15).