NYT: Dems Have "Slammed the Breaks" on Obamacare

David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear report:

With no clear path forward on major health care legislation, Democratic leaders in Congress effectively slammed the brakes on President Obama’s top domestic priority on Tuesday, saying they no longer felt pressure to move quickly on a health bill after eight months of setting deadlines and missing them.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, deflected questions about health care. “We’re not on health care now,” Mr. Reid said. “We’ve talked a lot about it in the past.”

Reid makes some gestures toward the reconciliation option, but expect more red-state Democrats to come out against such a move. Meanwhile, Steny Hoyer says, "We're trying to figure out as well what can pass." Meaning: Neither bill that we have already passed will become law. Obamacare as we know it is finished.

Nothing is inevitable.

Let the recriminations begin!