"We’re still going around the circle"

Then, Mr. Obama said, “we have got to move forward on a vote.”

The president did not say how he would resolve the knotty questions of policy, procedure and politics facing Congress.

A senior Democrat aide who has worked intensely on the legislation described party leaders as circling a traffic rotary, over and over, looking for a road forward but unable so far to pick a path.

“We’re still going around the circle,” said this aide, who asked not to be identified while discussing the Democrats’ internal debate. “You run out of gas at some point.”