WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Sunday he will hold a meeting with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to discuss ways to move forward on legislation to overhaul the healthcare system.

Obama’s effort to expand health coverage hit a stalemate after Democrats lost their 60-seat “supermajority” in the Senate as a result of a Massachusetts special election in January. They are now trying to decide on a new course.

Obama insisted in an interview with CBS News that he was not backing down on his push to revamp the healthcare system and said it was crucial for the economy to rein in health costs longer term.

He said the aim of the half-day February 25 meeting, which will be televised live, will be “to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there” and try to move forward on the legislation.

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Sunday he will hold a meeting with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to discuss ways to move forward on legislation to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system. Obama’s effort to expand health coverage hit a stalemate after Democrats lost their 60-seat "supermajority" in the Senate as a result of a Massachusetts special election in January. They are now trying to decide on a new course. Obama insisted in an interview with CBS News that he was not backing down on his push to revamp the healthcare system and said it was crucial for the economy to rein in health costs longer term. He said the aim of the half-day Feb. 25 meeting, which will be televised live, will be "to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there" and try to move forward on the legislation. Obama said he wanted to ask Republicans specific questions about how they would propose to lower costs, extend coverage to the uninsured and revise insurance rules so that people with existing medical conditions would be able to get coverage. Democrats, who are facing congressional elections in November, are looking to Obama for direction on whether he would want to try to break the logjam on the existing bill or seek new legislation. Some analysts say starting fresh with new legislation could doom the bill in an election year but getting the current bill back on track would also likely be very difficult. In the interview with CBS’s Katie Couric, Obama did not delve into specifics about what would happen after the meeting. But he said soliciting ideas from Republicans was important to the process. "If we can go step-by-step through a series of these issues and arrive at some agreements, then procedurally there’s no reason why we can’t do it a lot faster than the process took last year," Obama said. REPUBLICAN URGES CURRENT BILL BE SHELVED Reacting to Obama’s comments, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he welcomed the chance to share ideas with Obama but said "shelving" the current bill would be the best way to try to arrive at a consensus. Putting aside the current bill would "be a sign that the administration and Democrats in Congress are listening to the country and are truly interested in a bipartisan approach," McConnell said in a statement. Obama said that surging health care costs were "beating down" families and businesses, and will become a "huge drain on the economy" if they are not brought under control. Obama last week unveiled his new budget that included forecasts for a record $1.6 trillion deficit for the 2010 fiscal year and a shortfall of $1.3 trillion in 2011. "If we can start bending the cost curves on health care, that’s the most important thing we can do to deal with the deficits long term," Obama said. Obama has been criticized by Republicans for not living up to his campaign promise to hold televised sessions on the healthcare bill. Many of the Democratic negotiating sessions have taken place behind closed doors. A U.S. official said the Feb. 25 session would be a half-day meeting. "While he’s been very clear that he supports the House and Senate bills, if Republicans or anyone else has a plan for protecting Americans from insurance company abuses, lowering costs, reducing prescription drug prices for seniors, making coverage more secure, and offering affordable options to those without coverage, he’s anxious to see it and debate the merits of it," the official said. Obama also said in the interview that the United States was "seeing the corner turn on the economy." His comments came after a government report on Friday showed a drop in the U.S. unemployment rate to 9.7 percent in January from 10 percent in December. (Writing by Caren Bohan; additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton and Paul Eckert; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Sunday he will hold a meeting with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to discuss ways to move forward on legislation to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system.

Obama’s effort to expand health coverage hit a stalemate after Democrats lost their 60-seat “supermajority” in the Senate as a result of a Massachusetts special election in January. They are now trying to decide on a new course.

Obama insisted in an interview with CBS News that he was not backing down on his push to revamp the healthcare system and said it was crucial for the economy to rein in health costs longer term.

He said the aim of the half-day Feb. 25 meeting, which will be televised live, will be “to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there” and try to move forward on the legislation.

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Gloomy budget forecasts will shadow President Barack Obama as he takes his economic message on the road on Tuesday, seeking to reassure Americans he has a plan to tackle high unemployment and surging debt levels.

Obama will propose using $30 billion in funds from the TARP bank bailout scheme for use as a small business lending fund to spur job growth in a critical sector of the U.S. economy. [ID:nN01216892]

“I think we should make it easier for them to open their doors, expand their operations, and hire more workers,” he will say, according to speech excerpts released by the White House.

Obama will outline the plan during his visit to Nashua, New Hampshire, for an event that will feature a “town hall” question and answer session.

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Gloomy budget forecasts will shadow President Barack Obama as he takes his economic message on the road on Tuesday, seeking to reassure Americans he has a plan to tackle high unemployment and surging debt levels. Obama will propose using $30 billion in funds from the TARP bank bailout scheme for use as a small business lending fund to spur job growth in a critical sector of the U.S. economy. [ID:nN01216892] "I think we should make it easier for them to open their doors, expand their operations, and hire more workers," he will say, according to speech excerpts released by the White House. Obama will outline the plan during his visit to Nashua, New Hampshire, for an event that will feature a "town hall" question and answer session. The trip comes as Obama seeks to rebound from political setbacks and a drop in his popularity among middle-class voters anxious over the economy and wary of parts of his agenda, such as the push for a healthcare overhaul. New Hampshire, a northeastern state known for fiscal conservatism, is next to Massachusetts, where a Republican handed Obama’s Democrats an embarrassing defeat last month in a pivotal Senate race. On Monday, Obama sent Congress a $3.8 trillion budget for the 2011 fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. The document painted a bleak fiscal picture, prompting Republicans to accuse Obama of pursuing big-spending, fiscally reckless policies. The White House counters that Obama inherited enormous deficits and a deep recession from the Bush administration and had to try to revive the economy with a large stimulus package when he took office in January 2009. The budget forecasts a record $1.6 trillion deficit for the 2010 fiscal year. The shortfall is expected to ease slightly to a still-high $1.3 trillion in 2011 and Obama has set a goal of halving it by the end of 2012, when he faces re-election. JOBS, JOBS, JOBS With U.S. unemployment stuck at a nearly 26-year high of 10 percent, Obama has made jobs growth his most pressing near-term priority. Obama is seeking $100 billion in the current 2010 fiscal year for a package of business tax credits and other steps aimed at creating jobs and giving a boost to struggling middle-class families. His proposal to use $30 billion from the unpopular TARP bank bailout fund is aimed at rapidly increasing lending to credit-worthy small businesses. Senior Obama administration officials, briefing reporters, said the program would be limited to smaller or community banks, those with $10 billion in assets or less. Banks would be able to take capital at attractive terms that would become better as they increase small business lending. "These are the small, local banks that work most closely with our small businesses — that provide them their first loan, and watch them grow through good times and bad," Obama will say. "The more loans these banks provide to credit-worthy small businesses, the better a deal we’ll give them on capital from this fund." Obama is also giving new emphasis to a promise to put the United States on a firmer fiscal footing in the longer term as he seeks to cast off the "big spender" label Republicans have tried to pin on him. He proposed a three-year freeze on some domestic spending and said he would establish a bipartisan commission to come up with recommendations for tackling the long-term debt problem. Part of Obama’s job will be to try to sell the budget to the public and the Democratic-led Congress, where ideas such as a spending freeze are likely to meet some resistance. But budget analyst Stan Collender, a former congressional aide now with Qorvis Communications, said Obama struck the right balance in his budget by putting the top focus on jobs. "The president was faced with a choice between paying attention to the deficit and paying attention to jobs and he chose jobs," Collender said. "Consumers aren’t spending a whole lot yet. Businesses still aren’t spending a whole lot. So under those circumstances, there’s only one arrow left in the quiver and that’s fiscal policy." (Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by John O’Callaghan)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House will predict a $1.6 trillion U.S. budget deficit in the 2010 fiscal year, a fresh record and the biggest since World War Two as a share of the economy, a congressional source told Reuters on Sunday.

The grim forecast adds to the challenges facing President Barack Obama, who is emphasizing a message of fiscal discipline but is also seeking stimulus measures to boost the struggling economy in the near term.

Obama’s budget proposal, which will be released at 10 a.m. EST on Monday, will predict a narrowing of the deficits to $700 billion by fiscal 2013 before they gradually rise back to $1 trillion by the end of the decade, the Capitol Hill source said.

He will submit his spending blueprint for the 2011 fiscal year that begins October 1 and runs through September 30 next year.

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) – The White House will predict a $1.6 trillion U.S. budget deficit in the 2010 fiscal year, a fresh record and the biggest since World War Two as a share of the economy, a congressional source told Reuters on Sunday.

The grim forecast adds to the challenges facing President Barack Obama, who is emphasizing a message of fiscal discipline but is also seeking stimulus measures to boost the struggling economy in the near term.

Obama’s budget proposal, which will be released at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) on Monday, will predict a narrowing of the deficits to $700 billion by fiscal 2013 before they gradually rise back to $1 trillion by the end of the decade, the Capitol Hill source said.

He will submit his spending blueprint for the 2011 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30 next year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will pledge not to give up his effort to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, in a speech on Wednesday in which he will recast his agenda after his worst political setback since taking office.

“By the time I’m finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance. Millions will lose it this year,” Obama will say, according to excerpts of his speech released by the White House.

“I will not walk away from these Americans. And neither should the people in this chamber,” he will say in his annual State of the Union speech to Congress.

The address, which begins at 9 p.m. EST, follows the loss by his Democratic party of a pivotal Senate seat, imperiling legislative priorities like the healthcare reform effort.

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will pledge not to give up his effort to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, in a speech on Wednesday in which he will recast his agenda after his worst political setback since taking office.

“By the time I’m finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance. Millions will lose it this year,” Obama will say, according to excerpts of his speech released by the White House.

“I will not walk away from these Americans. And neither should the people in this chamber,” he will say in his annual State of the Union speech to Congress.

The address, which begins at 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Thursday), follows the loss by his Democratic party of a pivotal Senate seat, imperiling legislative priorities like the healthcare reform effort.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will recast his agenda in a high-stakes address to the American people on Wednesday, focusing on jobs and deficits as he seeks to weather his worst political storm since taking office.

Obama’s annual State of the Union speech to Congress at 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Thursday) follows the loss by his Democratic party of a pivotal Senate seat, imperiling legislative priorities like healthcare reform and financial regulation.

His own poll numbers are also down from once-lofty levels.

Amid pomp and ceremony, Obama will try to show his prime-time television audience he understands their economic pain as he proposes a new job-creation push, curbs on Wall Street and tax credits to middle-class families.