Jonathan Karl over at ABC news is reporting this story:
Top Dems: Obama Won't Get Health Care Bill in 2009
Senior Congressional Democrats Now Say Reform Before End of Year is Highly Unlikely
I have seen this headline on Twitter as well. It would seem this story is about to hit.
Here is the key quote from Karl's piece:
Senior Congressional Democrats told ABC News today it is highly unlikely that a health care reform bill will be completed this year, just a week after President Barack Obama declared he was "absolutely confident" he'll be able to sign one by then.
"Getting this done by the by the end of the year is a no-go," a senior Democratic leadership aide told ABC News. Two other key Congressional Democrats also told ABC News the same thing.
Karl then goes onto quote Reid on this issue--see if you can guess who Reid is channeling in the last line:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has yet to release the bill he eventually plans to bring to the Senate floor. Reid is still waiting for the Congressional Budget Office to come up with an estimated cost of several possible variations of his bill before deciding which one to introduce in the Senate.
That cost estimate, Democrats tell ABC News, is not expected until next week.
Asked directly by ABC News, "Will you pass health care reform this year?" Reid pointedly did not answer "yes."
Instead, he replied, "We are not going to be bound by any timetables," adding, "We are going to do this as quickly as we can."
The delay is causing some frustration among Reid's fellow Democrats, but Reid said of his colleagues, "They want us to do this the right way, not the fast way."
Any guesses? It sure sounds like the Senator from Maine, talking there.
A few quick points:
"Not by the end of the year" does not mean there will be no bill. By my count, this year ends December 31. If a bill is passed in January, it is still "not by the end of this year."
The press is going to ride this story if it can. The article is front-loaded with the Obama failed narrative, and that is bait too good for most networks to pass up.
Given Reid's Freudian slip in the form of using Snowe's catch phrase about "doing it the right way, not the fast way," I would guess that Snowe is still lurking around the table. This, combined with Pawlenty's recent branding of Snowe as a traitor might mean that she is considering voting for the bill.
Beyond that, it's anyone's guess.
Have at it.
Update [2009-11-3 18:44:27 by Jeffrey Feldman]: - Interesting poll result so far. Split almost exactly evenly, which I think says something very important. It would be nice if we could get a bigger sample for this...1000 votes would produce a good statistic.