WASHINGTON — House Democrats announced an agreement Friday on far-reaching steps designed to rein in the growth of Medicare, part of a concerted effort to counter the impression that President Barack Obama’s health care legislation is in deep trouble.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed the agreement as a “giant step forward” for the bill that Obama has made a test of his leadership. Advocates said it eventually would turn Medicare toward a program that rewards quality, rather than volume, as well as alter a system that pays doctors and other providers more in some regions of the country than others.
Yet the leadership all but abandoned a pledge to approve legislation before a month-long vacation scheduled to begin at the end of next week.
Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the majority leader, left open the possibility that lawmakers would be held in session a day or more longer than scheduled to allow time for a vote. If not, “we have every intention of passing it by the fall,” he said.
Separately, talks between the leadership and rebellious conservative and moderate Democrats demanding changes in the bill collapsed during the day, then were revived a few hours later.
In a further attempt to blunt criticism, Democrats circulated a breakdown claiming to show the benefits of the legislation in each of the nation’s 435 congressional districts.
The maneuvering in Congress came as Obama met at the White House with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee, who has been trying for months to produce a bipartisan agreement.
Obama has worked energetically in public appearances, lawmaker meetings and a prime-time news conference this week to advance legislation that he wants to expand coverage to millions without insurance at the same time it restrains the growth of health care generally.
