Obama: No healthcare action until Brown is seated

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the Senate should halt any action on healthcare legislation until Senator-elect Scott Brown (R-Mass.) can be seated.

Obama told ABC News's George Stephanopoulos in an interview to air tonight that he doesn't want to move on health legislation, his top domestic priority, until Brown joins the Senate, which would give the GOP enough votes to sustain a filibuster.

"Here's one thing I know and I just want to make sure that this is off the table: The Senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through until Scott Brown is seated," the president said. "The people of Massachusetts spoke. He's got to be part of that process."

Obama's declaration is well in line with what's appearing to be the emerging political reality facing Democrats in Congress, where some Democratic members in a position to block movement on legislation saying the Senate shouldn't move without Brown having been seated.

In the interregnum until Brown is seated, though, Democrats will be forced to confront how they'll proceed on healthcare without a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the administration and lawmakers are actively considering a number of options on how to proceed.

Obama urged members of Congress to coalesce around "core elements" of health reform as some guidance.

"I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on," Obama said. "We know that we need insurance reform, that the health insurance companies are taking advantage of people. We know that we have to have some form of cost containment because if we don't, then our budgets are going to blow up and we know that small businesses are going to need help so that they can provide health insurance to  their families.  Those are the core, some of the core elements of, to this bill."

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