US President Barack Obama's overhaul healthcare reform suffered another blow on Thursday as the Senate gave up voting on the bill before the August recess.
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters that his floor would rather have a product "that is one that is based on quality and thoughtfulness," than "trying to jam something through."
However, he said that the Senate Finance Committee would pass component of its overall legislation before the recess, which will be blended with another legislation approved by the Senate's main health committee earlier this month.
"The decision was made to give them more time for the finance committee part of what we're trying to do and I don't think it is unreasonable. This is a complex, difficult issue," he added.
In recent weeks, Obama has stepped up his efforts to push forward his overhaul healthcare reform at Congress, which is aimed at curbing rapidly rising costs and expanding health insurance coverage to the 46 million uninsured Americans.
The president has earlier set a timetable for Congress to vote on the healthcare reform bill before its month-long recess starting Aug. 7.
On Thursday, Obama, for his first time, indicated that he would be ok with the delay in passing the healthcare reform bill at Congress, when he sell the plan in Ohio, the politically critical heartland.
"We may not be able to get the bill out of the Senate by the end of August, or the beginning of August: that's OK; I just want people to keep on working, just keep working," Obama said.
"I want to get it done by the end of this year, I want it done by the fall," he added.
(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2009)
