That didn't last long.
A day after some unexpectedly positive signs for health care reform in Congress, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Thursday that his committee would be unable to complete work on a bill before the August recess.
Baucus's announcement came after a day in which Republican negotiators on the committee made clear they were not comfortable with the Democratic timetable - pushed by President Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders.
The House bill was expected to clear the third, and final, committee standing in its way before lawmakers escape Washington on Friday, but only after another flare-up by House liberals who said Blue Dog conservative Democrats had hijacked the process.
In the Senate, weeks of regular, near-daily bipartisan negotiations on the Finance Committee stalled, as the three Republicans and three Democrats did not meet for most of the day. Baucus worked throughout the day to hold together his fragile bipartisan coalition. They had reconvened by the evening and emerged after 45 minutes to say they were committed to the talks.
"We have not been committed to a deadline. We're committed to getting a job done," Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said, standing with Baucus and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).
The temporary breakdown meant the Senate Finance Committee will miss its deadline to produce a bill and served as yet another reminder of the significant political hurdles that lay ahead. It raised the question of how long Democratic leaders will allow the bipartisan talks to continue before going to a Plan B.
It was a far cry from Wednesday morning. Baucus thought he might be close to a deal - and apparently so did Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who had said the group was "on the edge" of agreement. The Finance Committee had received a rare bit of positive news from the Congressional Budget Office, which estimated that a draft version of the bill would cost less than expected, at about $900 billion. And on the House side, Democrats had broken an impasse with the conservative Blue Dog Coalition.
But by Wednesday afternoon, Enzi, who is usually press averse, told reporters a deal could not be reached before the recess. On Thursday, he upped the rhetoric, arguing the process was a "train wreck" waiting to happen if the Democrats didn't slow down.
Enzi appeared most unhappy with the process. A headline in Wednesday's Washington Post - "Senators Close to Health Accord" - infuriated Enzi.
He said he did not think the group was anywhere close, and he had told associates as much on Tuesday night.
"I had conversations with people last night on both sides of the aisle letting them know where we were, which is nowhere near a deal, and then they read in the paper this morning that there is a deal imminent," Enzi told reporters Wednesday. "That is a bad position to be in. It makes me look like a liar."
Grassley appeared to pull back, as well, but to a lesser degree than Enzi.
After telling National Public Radio on Wednesday that he was hopeful of a deal by the weekend, Grassley adjusted his assessment, saying they were making progress but maybe not enough in time for the August break.
"The bipartisan discussions that Chairman Baucus has led in the Senate Finance Committee have made very good progress because of his long-term commitment to bipartisanship and could lead to a bill that makes things better, not worse, but that'll never happen if Democratic leaders tell Republicans to take a hike by forcing the committee to move on an all-Democrat bill," Grassley said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
Snowe remains committed "to getting this done," her spokesman, John Gentzel, said. "As far as she is concerned, negotiations are still under way."
The three Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee are under pressure from their leadership not to cut a deal too quickly, according to sources, and that message has been delivered frequently in recent weeks.
There's pressure on the Democratic side as well. Baucus wanted to show progress on the negotiations before the August recess, either by announcing a deal or releasing the framework of a bill. He presented the senators Thursday with options for moving the process forward, sources said.
But Republicans decided that they were not ready to operate on the Democratic timeline, GOP aides said. Despite the uptick in criticism from Enzi and Grassley, there were no plans for them to leave the negotiations, aides said.
Grassley said the media had created the narrative that Republicans are under pressure to walk from the negotiating table.
"Do we look like we've been pressured?" Grassley asked, standing with Baucus and Snowe. "We're working together, three of us here, to get the job done. And, so what you're observing is a continuation of where we've been for doggone long time. The trouble is, you folks are looking for news, and there ain't no news."
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said the bipartisan group would meet next week
-- and possibly by video conference through the August recess.
"We have a full schedule next week, a schedule during the August break and an absolute commitment to reaching an agreement," Conrad said.
In the House, liberals remain upset about a deal House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) cut with four fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats on the committee. New York Rep.
Anthony Weiner, a Democrat on Waxman's committee, set off another firestorm Thursday by predicting liberal Democrats would prevent the chairman from adding the Blue Dogs' changes - a prospect sure to imperil the legislation.
But few fellow progressives on the committee were prepared to make similar threats.
"We will produce a bill," said California Rep. Anna Eshoo, a strong supporter of the public plan and a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Some of the liberals on the committee are worried that scuttling consideration of the bill at this late stage would force Pelosi to bring it to the floor without them.
"This is sort of a game of chicken," said New York Rep. Eliot Engel, another Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee who has argued vehemently for a strong public plan. "People don't want to call her bluff."
Instead, many of these aggrieved liberals expect party leaders to restore money that was removed from the bill to help middle-income families purchase health insurance. Some also hint that their top brass will make further changes to strengthen government-sponsored health coverage created by the bill. This could mean tethering payments under the public option to Medicare - something the Blue Dogs fought hard to remove.
"I think there will be changes made," Eshoo said. "I expect a bill that will restore these objectives."
"We're hoping, down the road, these pieces can be restored," Engel said, but he warned, "We have no assurances. None."
Patrick O'Connor contributed to this report.
