In a town hall meeting in Elyria, Ohio this afternoon, President Obama again expressed his commitment to passing some sort of reform, saying, "I am not going to walk away just because it's hard."
The form that health reform may take is evolving daily, but the idea of a scaled-back package – one that could attract Republican support - may be gaining steam. Several House Democrats, like Rep. Paul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), are pushing for the use of Reconciliation for some of the controversial portions, and a series of small measures which might attract Republican support.
This morning, Howard Dean (former Democratic Party Chairman) was also advocating passage of a series of scaled-back healthcare measures instead of one comprehensive bill, adding, "I would go back and do that though and run it through the reconciliation program."
Democratic leaders have said they will not hold votes on healthcare reform until Brown is seated. Further, Sen. Chris Dodd has called for lawmakers to "take a breather for a month, six weeks."
Although the timetable, as well as the direction of health reform is unclear, Obama and congressional Democrats are far from abandoning reform this session.
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