After Sen. Harry Reid said yesterday that the Senate health bill won’t come up for a vote before the August break , much of the news coverage on health reform this morning centers on what the missed deadline means. Democratic leaders downplayed the idea that the delay means that overhaul efforts could lose steam, but the holdup gives opponents more time to critique the bill that emerges from the Senate Finance committee, notes the New York Times . The committee’s bill is now due before the recess begins on Aug. 8. Dems are feeling the pressure from President Obama , and members in the House held a “contentious” closed-door meeting yesterday to talk about things, Politico says. Some Senate Finance Dems are telling committee chief Max Baucus that their votes shouldn’t be taken for granted. “Don’t think we are so desperate,” Sen.

John Rockefeller told Politico. “We are not going to fall into line.” Here’s more from the Washington Post , too. Meanwhile, the key role in the overhaul process of Peter Orszag, the former head of the Congressional Budget Office who is now the White House budget director, is highlighted in the WSJ . As CBO leader, Orzag downplayed the idea that improvements in health-care information technology would lead to significant cost savings. Recently, Orzag pitched a proposal to create a new, independent agency to oversee spending and changes to Medicare as a way to control health-care costs. He also favors changing the current payment system of “fee for service” for doctors to one that would give them incentives to focus on improving quality of care.

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Health Reform: What the Delay Means, Peter Orszag’s Role