WASHINGTON — The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Tuesday that he expected to bring major health care legislation to the floor next week and to complete work on the bill before Christmas. But other Democratic leaders said it was unlikely that a bill could reach President Obama’s desk by year’s end.
The House approved its version of the health care legislation late Saturday by a vote of 220 to 215. In a first procedural step toward Senate debate, Mr. Reid on Tuesday night moved to put the House bill on the Senator calendar, from which he could call it up any time after Tuesday.
Mr. Reid still has not finalized the Senate version of the legislation. He is waiting for additional analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, with an eye toward keeping the 10-year cost of the bill at the roughly $900 billion suggested by Mr. Obama. Some lawmakers and White House officials have voiced increasing frustration with the delay.
Former President Bill Clinton attended the Senate Democrats’ weekly lunch on Tuesday to urge them to pass the bill quickly, in a visit that seemed intended especially to encourage centrist Democrats who have yet to commit their support, including Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Mr. Clinton’s native state.
“It’s not important to be perfect here,” Mr. Clinton said, recounting his comments to reporters after the lunch. “It’s important to act, to move, to start the ball rolling, to claim the evident advantages that all these plans agree with, and whatever they can get the votes for I’m going to support.” He added, “I think it is good politics to pass this and to pass it as soon as they can.”
Asked at a news conference if he would get the bill on the floor next week and completed by the holiday recess, Mr. Reid offered a terse reply: “Yes and yes.”
But aides said there was still much uncertainty, and Senate Democrats have repeatedly missed self-imposed deadlines on the health bill. The aides said Mr. Reid was aiming to vote on bringing the bill to the floor before the Senate leaves for Thanksgiving.
Simply getting approval for such a motion to proceed would require support from all 60 members of the Democratic caucus: 58 Democrats and 2 independents. But there is still substantial disagreement over a number of contentious issues, including the proposal for a government-run insurance plan, or public option.
Senate Democrats also appear to be divided on the issue of insurance coverage for abortions, an issue that split House Democrats. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, ended up making big concessions to anti-abortion Democrats and persuaded her fellow liberals to support the larger bill.
On Tuesday, several women in the Senate, including Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland and Dianne Feinstein of California, both Democrats, met to come up with a strategy for resisting major new restrictions on abortion.
In a statement, Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, expressed opposition to restrictions like those adopted by the House. Ms. McCaskill said Congress should not “change current law, which is no public money for abortions.” And she said the House bill “goes too far limiting private funds, too.”
Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California said she believed that a compromise could be reached but that the restrictions included in the House bill were unacceptable.
“This amendment is unfair and discriminatory toward women,” Ms. Boxer said. “It singles them out as a group and would deny women access to a legal medical procedure by dictating what a woman can do with her own private funds. We’ve had a compromise in place for decades that has been fair. Anything that disrupts that compromise is a huge step back for women.”
Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa and chairman of the health committee, also said the House had gone too far. “I fear that the House-passed language,” Mr. Harkin said, “will effectively prevent women from receiving abortion coverage under the new health exchanges, even if they are using their own money to buy insurance.”
Mr. Reid said he believed a deal could be struck. “We’re going to continue to work with pro-choice folks, pro-life folks in the Senate and come up with something that’s fair and reasonable.”
Senate Republicans seized on new polling data showing that Americans are increasingly uncomfortable with the sweeping health care legislation. The Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said Democrats were ignoring public opinion in pressing forward with the bill.
“As we go forward here in the Senate,” Mr. McConnell said, “I hope it will not be lost on our Democratic friends where the public is, how the public feels about this measure. They’re speaking increasingly loudly that they do not think it ought to pass.”