Here are a few of this morning’s news highlights on health reform: It looks like there won’t be a health bill coming from the Senate Finance Committee before Congress breaks for its August recess next Friday. The committee won’t even be convened next week when the full Senate is scheduled to debate Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination, says the WSJ . The committee has been struggling to reach a bipartisan agreement on the bill, prompting Republican Sen. Mike Enzi to call the process a “trainwreck,” according to Politico . The WSJ notes that Enzi’s comments are prompting Democrats to wonder if it’s time for them to move on without Republican support. Read more from the Washington Post , too. Things aren’t easy on the House side either, though has been some movement there this week. Yesterday, the Energy and Commerce Committee voted down an effort to get rid of a

section of the House bill that provides for a public insurance option. Even so, liberals are worried that House leaders are compromising too soon, with one congressman telling the New York Times that the public plan was “eviscerated” during a Wednesday vote. The House committee also voted, 30 to 28, in favor of an amendment allowing insurance companies to decide whether or not to cover abortions. If coverage is offered, the money must come from private sources. Anti-abortion advocates have been raising concerns about the possibility of public funding for abortions. There is also a hodge-podge of other interesting stories , including one on how doctor self-referrals drive health-care costs , a piece on the health-care industry’s contributions to the Blue Dogs and a first-person perspective on the health-care system from a cancer patient.

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Health-Reform Update: Senate Slowdown & House Abortion Vote