About that August Healthcare Reform Deadline…

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has conceded that the Senate won't be able to meet President Obama's August 7 deadline for a healthcare reform bill:

President Barack Obama's drive for healthcare reform suffered a setback on Thursday when Senate leaders said they would not be able to pass the measure before leaving for a monthlong August recess.

The day after Obama's prime-time news conference to sell the healthcare proposal, congressional leaders struggled to ease doubts about the plan and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the full chamber would not take up the bill until after its monthlong recess that begins on August 7.

"We'll come back in the fall" to work on the bill in the full Senate, he told reporters. 

Given the way Obama has framed the healthcare debate—as one of almost apocalyptic urgency—Reid might as well admit that he's comfortable being chauffeured to work over the dead bodies of uninsured children strewn about in the streets. It'll be interesting to see how Obama responds to the news that this can't-wait-another-month reform will…have to wait another month.

Check out Reason's healthcare archive here.