Lawmakers work on healthcare compromise

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A team from the White House arrived at the Capitol Wednesday, barely 24 hours after the Finance Committee approved its healthcare reform bill, officials said.

Led by the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, the team included the budget director, Peter R. Orszag; the health and human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius; and the health care policy coordinator, Nancy-Ann DeParle meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., The New York Times reported.

The goal of the negotiators is to craft a legislative package that can win at least 60 votes in the Senate from Democrats and perhaps a few Republicans, at least Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, the one GOP Senator on board -- enough to avoid a GOP filibuster, The Washington Post reported.

The Post said lawmakers were looking to Obama to use the sessions to iron out such continuing disputes as the inclusion of a government-run "public option" alternative and whether employers should be mandated to offer their workers health insurance.

"As we've said throughout this process, the White House stands ready to assist Leader Reid and Chairmen Baucus and Dodd in moving the reform effort forward," an official White House statement said.

Also Wednesday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama believed Congress could pass a healthcare bill before the end of the year.