UPDATE @ 6:56 PM: Mark Knoller from CBS just reported that the Obama meeting with the Democratic leaders has ended after eight hours.
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The President's schedule for today, sent via email last night, included this:
The President will meet with Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid, and members of the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate in the Cabinet Room. This meeting is closed press.This morning, there was an update:
In the afternoon, the President will travel to Lanham, Maryland where he will tour Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee Center (IBEW Local 26 and NECA, Washington DC Chapter). The tour is pooled press.
The President and the Vice President will now meet with members of the Democratic Leadership at 10:25AM in the Cabinet Room.We were also informed that the trip to Maryland was cancelled.
The White House meeting already passed the four hour mark according to a recent tweet from Jeffrey Young, who covers health care issues for The Hill. I've been watching CNN and still haven't seen the leaders emerge from the White House, so the meeting could still be taking place -- if so, it's approaching five hours. (UPDATE @ 3:46 PM: Confirmation via a tweet from Rep. George Miller's Education and Labor Committee that the meeting passed the five hour mark. And, it's not over. After a break for House members to vote, the meeting will "resume shortly.")
This is one long meeting. Among the attendees were Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and other key players on the health care issue. I think this is the first time Obama has had one of these marathon meetings with members of Congress. And, he even canceled that jobs-related event in Maryland to stick around for the session.
My growing sense over the past couple days is that many Democratic House members are incensed that they're just supposed to accept the weak Senate bill. Many of them, like Rep. Peter DeFazio, have gone public (which we know because of Mike Stark.) Ramming the Senate bill to final passage was part of the master plan from the White House brain trust. But, there's been intense pushback from Democratic members. Hence, this unprecedented meeting today.
We'll keep an eye on what's happening at the White House. Either there's a deal -- or not. But, we'll have a sense of just how the health care negotiations are.
