[Lou Waters, Cnn Anchor:] In Washington today, the momentum seems to be with Senate Democrats in their attempt to pass a patients bill of rights that comes with sweeping rights to sue. The White House says what some Democrats really want is a veto. And CNN's Major Garrett joins us now with all the latest on this story from Washington. What's going on, Major?
[Major Garrett, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Lou, the president indeed is losing ground in the Senate. Senate Democrats yesterday beat back a Republican amendment that the White House favored that would have protected businesses from liability if, in fact, a patient with an HMO wanted to sue that employer. Republicans in the White House lost that amendment. The Republicans I have talked to in the Senate today say all other amendments of this kind will also fail this week, which means the Senate Democrats are ultimately expected to prevail with their brand of a patients bill of rights, which had led the White House to shift its strategy completely and now move away from the Senate to the House, which has put together a bill that has yet to be debated. But it will be debated after the Fourth of July recess. The White House is going to meet with about 15-20 House Republicans today. The president will sit down with them to try to persuade them to stick with that bill. It's pushed by the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, a Republican from Illinois. The White House favors it because the rights to sue are slightly more limited than the Senate bill. That's really the defining element of this entire debate. The Senate, as I said, is continuing debate. And someone who is very familiar with all the contour,s both politically and substantively, of the health care debate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, was presiding this morning, as two very well-known senators Senator Edward Kennedy, a Democrat of Massachusetts, and Kit Bond, a Republican from Missouri fought intensely over this question of liability and the consequences of allowing patients to sue their HMOs.
[Sen. Edward Kennedy , Massachusetts:] We will be inviting once you give them the carte blanche, whatever the problems are today are just going to increase a thousand fold, because they are going to be immune, effectively, from any kind of action.
[Sen. Christopher Bond , Missouri:] I heard one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle said, "Well, the McCain- Kennedy bill is taking care of small employers small employers health care provision." Yes, just like a herbicide takes care of a bed of flowers. It's going to kill small business health care at the roots.
[Garrett:] And, Lou, this is really the central question remaining for the Congress: Do you put together a bill that allows a right to sue? And can you do so without effectively diminishing the business' interest in providing health care to its employees? Because if they fear lawsuits, the White House argues, they will cut off care completely. That's what Republicans in the White House are trying to stop. But at the moment, Senate Democrats have the upper hand on the liability question Lou.
[Waters:] Major, Daschle said Senator Daschle said he wanted this bill cut by the July 4 recess or he would cancel the recess. Can you get there from here?
[Garrett:] It looks like Senator Daschle will in fact get his wish. And I can tell you, after covering Congress for many, many years, there's nothing that concentrates the lawmaker's mind like an impending recess. All of the sudden, things that were immovable and non- negotiable suddenly become very open to negotiation once you're nearing that recess date. And everyone I've talked to on the Hill today says they're moving through amendments smartly. That defeat the White House suffered yesterday was a clear signal they're not going to win on these other amendments. They will get their chance. They will be voted on. But the White House already sees this turning again itself in the Senate Senate action due by the end of week. And then the entire focus, at the White House and elsewhere, turns to the House after the recess Lou.
[Waters:] Right. Nothing like the lure of a burger on the grill Major Garrett in Washington. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com