NEWSFLASH: Dems say they have a Serious Problem on Health Bill

I know this will come as a shock — sort of like the Pope being Catholic — but the Dems are admitting they have a “serious problem” with regard to the health bill negotiations, and do not expect to finish until February.

From Roll Call:

“We’ve got a problem on both sides of the Capitol. A serious problem,” Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday evening.

The difficulty in hashing out an agreement between the two chambers is largely due to there being so many different factions with a stake in the matter, Rangel said. “Normally you’re just dealing with the Senate and they talk about 60 votes and you listen to them and cave in, but this is entirely different,” he said. “I’m telling you that never has 218 been so important to me in the House.”

Another senior House Democrat familiar with negotiations on the bill said no progress has been made this week on any of the key sticking points in the House and Senate bills, despite steady meetings with union leaders and the White House.

“There’s no agreement. No deal on anything. Nothing,” the lawmaker said.

That’s nada, zilch, zero, uh, nothing.