Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told me she is confident health care reform will pass but would not commit on whether a final bill will be sent to the president before Congress' Easter recess.
The Congressional schedule plays an integral role in deciding policy, and if a bill is not passed by the end of the month, it will become even more difficult for the president to get it done.
"We'll have the votes when the leadership decides it's time to call for the vote," said Sebelius.
Obama seems aware that time is not on his side. On Wednesday he made what sounded to many like a final plea for a reform bill. He said, "For us to start over now could simply lead to delay that could last for another decade...I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform."
Gaining much Republican support for reform seems unlikely as well. Sebelius said many GOP ideas have been included in the bill but, "Those ideas still haven't produced Republican votes."
And it is not just Republicans who are voicing their opposition. Democrat Bart Stupak says he has a coalition of legislators who will not vote for the bill unless the language about federally funded abortions is changed.
Sebelius was direct when I asked her about what the Senate bill states. "There is no federal money paying for abortions," she said. The secretary called Stupak "misinformed" about the language in the Senate's legislation.
And health care certainly wasn't the only issue the White House dealt with last week. Violence in Iraq during the country's parliamentary election and ethics problems for several Democrats have caused even more concern about the majority party's chances in November.
Watch video from our roundtable discussion with Sen. Orrin Hatch, Harold Ford, E.J. Dionne and Rich Lowry. Along with health care, we hit on Ford's decision not to run for Senate in New York and a controversial Power Point made by a member of the Republican National Committee.
