GOP unmoved as Obama renews health-care push

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is broadening his push for overhauling health care even as congressional Democrats quietly pursue ways to achieve their goals without any Republican help.

After two days of silence on health care, Obama re-engaged Wednesday, urging religious leaders to back his proposals and preparing for a pep talk to a much larger audience of liberal activists, whose enthusiasm has been questioned. Polls continued to show slippage in support for the president's approach, although Americans expressed even less confidence in Republicans' handling of health care.

The administration said it still hopes for a bipartisan breakthrough on its far-reaching goals of expanding health coverage, controlling costs and increasing competition among insurers. Privately, however, top Democrats said a bipartisan accord seems less likely than ever, and they are preparing strategies for a possible one-party legislative push soon after Congress reconvenes next month.

Officials said Democratic researchers lately have concluded that a strong-arm Senate tactic, which could negate the need for any GOP votes, might be more effective than previously thought.

The strategy, called "reconciliation," allows senators to get around a bill-killing filibuster without mustering the 60 votes usually needed. Democrats control 60 of the Senate's 100 seats, but two of their members — Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts — are seriously ill and often absent.

While always controversial, reconciliation lets the Senate pass some measures with a simple majority vote. Non-budget-related items can be challenged, however, and some lawmakers say reconciliation would knock so many provisions from Obama's health care plan that the result would be "Swiss cheese."

Democratic aides say they increasingly believe those warnings are overblown.

On Wednesday, Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., warned Republicans that reconciliation is a real option. The White House and Senate Democratic leaders still prefer a bipartisan bill, he said, but "patience is not unlimited and we are determined to get something done this year by any legislative means necessary."

In a conference call with liberal religious leaders Wednesday, Obama called health coverage for Americans a "core ethical and moral obligation." He disputed claims that Democratic bills would create "death panels," offer health care for illegal immigrants or fund abortions.