Senate majority leader Harry Reid said there is “no rush” to pass health-care reform, as long as it happens before elections:

“We’re not on health care now. We’ve talked a lot about it in the past,” Reid told reporters following the weekly Senate Democratic caucus lunch. “There are a number of options being discussed. Anything that we talk about, we have to look at the procedural aspects of that. And I’ve had a number of meetings with the Speaker, spoken to the White House on several occasions. I’m meeting with the Speaker later tonight in a bicameral meeting — we’ll talk about that. My leadership will go to that with me, we’re going to find out how to proceed. But there is no rush. This is a Congress. What we have done lasts for two years. We’ve just finished our first year.”

Reid also took a gentle shot at House majority leader Steny Hoyer, who called the Senate a “broken system” in earlier comments:

“I have great affection for Steny, but you can go back over the two and [one] third centuries we’ve been a country, and House leaders have been saying this about the Senate from the very beginning,” Reid said. “I could put in a few comments about how I feel about the House.”

(NB: Evidence that liberals don’t know their history? In the story referenced above, the HuffPo reporter follows-up a Reid quotation about the Founders’ intention “to build competition between the chambers” with the editorial observation that “few members of the Second Continental Congress reflexively used the threat of a filibuster, however.” That’s probably because the Second Continental Congress and its successor were organized under the Articles of Confederation, which had no filibuster — indeed, no Senate.)

UPDATE: The House’s No. 3 Democrat, James Clyburn, said his body could be convinced to pass the Senate bill with sufficient guarantees that objectionable items would later be fixed via reconciliation:

“I feel certain that the House Democrats will pass health care reform if the fixes that we feel need to be made to the Senate bill are guaranteed,” Clyburn said. Asked directly if the House votes would be there if this happened, Clyburn said: “Yes, sir.”
Clyburn’s comments suggest that if Dem leaders figure out a way of demonstrating to House Democrats that the reconciliation fix is iron-clad, they could support the Senate bill in large enough numbers to pass.
Clyburn cautioned, however, that House Dems would have to be convinced of the veracity of the fix, citing the “natural distrust between the two bodies.” He added that House Dems would want to see the fix address their opposition to the “Cadillac” tax, to state-based exchanges, and to various sweetheart deals for Senators.