Shooting down the "moderate" Democratic Senators Joe Manchin, Claire McCaskill, Ben Nelson and Jon Tester, all of whom have voiced a desire to see individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act go, the White House says no deal.
In his daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs showed no enthusiasm for talk of swapping the mandate -- which, once phased in, will require individuals to obtain health insurance or face fines -- for separate, less onerous, language.
"I think if we thought there was a better way of doing it, we would have gone that way," Gibbs said.
"The president supports it," the press secretary said of the mandate. "We have gone to court to maintain it. And, as the president has said, we will work with those who want to see improvements in this law regardless of party. But we believe that individual responsibility is a foundation."
....In private, aides on the Hill say there is little chance that a Democratic-run Senate will consider a legislative alternative to the mandate, at least while the White House forcefully defends its constitutionality and import in various courts.
Meanwhile, one of those cases will get an an expedited appeal. U.S. District Judge George Steeh ruled in October that the Affordable Care Act, and the mandate were constitutional in a case brought by the Thomas More Law Center in Michigan.