Erica Werner WASHINGTON ? After insisting or a year that failure was not an ption, President Barack Obama is ow acknowledging his health-care verhaul may die in Congress. His remarks at a Democratic ational Committee fundraiser hursday night sounded contradicory at times, complicating congresional leaders? effort to revive ealth-care legislation as Democats hunger for guidance from the hite House. Even while saying he till wanted to get the job done, bama counseled going slow, and owed to new political realities. emocrats no longer command a ilibuster-proof Senate majority, nd voters and lawmakers are far ore concerned with jobs and the conomy than with enacting weeping and expensive changes to he health system. ?I think it?s very important for us o have a methodical, open process ver the next several weeks, and hen let?s go ahead and make a deciion,? Obama said Thursday night. ?And it may be that ... if Congress ecides we?re not going to do it, ven after all the facts are laid out, ll the options are clear, then the merican people can make a judgent as to whether this Congress as done the right thing for them or ot,? the president said. ?And that?s ow democracy works. There will e elections coming up and they?ll e able to make a determination nd register their concerns one way r the other during election time.? It seemed to be a shift in tone for he issue Obama campaigned on Christine Simmons LANHAM, Md. ? Seeking to reate more jobs, President Barack bama on Friday asked Congress o temporarily expand two lending rograms for the owners of small usinesses. Obama said he wants to bolster he impact of the businesses that are the chief creators of new jobs in a struggling economy. Just hours efore he spoke, the nation?s jobless rate finally dipped below 10 percent ? to a still-stubbornly high 9.7 percent ? in the latest government figures. With the president?s poll numbers falling and punishing levels of unemployment lingering, Obama has stepped up his focus on the economy and job creation. Obama said he wants businesses to be able to refinance their commercial real estate loans under the Small Business Administration and he wants that government agency to increase loans used for lines of credit and capital. ?The truth is, the economy can be growing like gangbusters for years on end and it?s still not easy to run a small business,? Obama said as he visited a heating and air conditioning company in a Maryland suburb of the capital. He reminded reporters that every once in a while, a small busi- and made the centerpiece of his domestic agenda last year. ?Here?s the key, is to not let the moment slip away,? Obama also said. Sweeping health legislation to extend medical coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans passed both chambers of Congress last year and was on the verge of completion before Republican ness becomes a large corporation that employs thousands. The White House said Obama?s plan would temporarily increase the cap on Small Business Administration Express loans from the current maximum of $350,000 to $1 million. Obama?s plan would also expand the SBA?s program to support refinancing for owner-occupied commercial real-estate loans. To be eligible, business owners must have first mortgages and be current on all loan payments for the previous year. The White House said the proposal would help refinance up to $18.7 billion each year in commercial real estate that might otherwise be foreclosed and liquidated. The move, however, requires Congress to act ? something of an open question, given that Democrats lost their supermajority only a day earlier when Republican Sen. Scott Brown took office to replace the late Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. ?What I hope, what I strongly urge is that we work quickly and that we work together to get this done,? Obama said. Obama wants to send $30 billion from the bank bailout program to community banks for lending to small businesses that need loans to increase their output and hire additional workers. Scott Brown?s upset victory in a Massachusetts special U.S. Senate election last month. Brown was sworn in Thursday, giving Republicans 41 votes, enough to block the initiatives of the Democratic majority. Now the health legislation hangs in limbo. Lawmakers are looking to Obama for a path forward, but he has not publicly offered specifics. The president has also proposed eliminating capital gains taxes on small businesses in 2010 and giving small businesses a $5,000 tax credit for every new job created. ? (AP) His signals have been mixed. At the DNC event he said Republicans should be part of the process ? something they?ve shown little interest in and that would doubtlessly drag out a legislative effort that many rank-and-file Democrats want to end quickly. The health-care bill has become unpopular with the public and a political drag for lawmakers. Sunday, February 7, 2010 ? Page 3-A

Uncertain days ahead for health reform

Negro National Anthem Lift Every Voice and Sing

?Lift Every Voice and Sing? was written by the noted African-American poet and civil rights leader, James Weldon Johnson. It was originally intended for use in a program given by a group of Jacksonville, Fla., school children to celebrate Abraham Lincoln?s birthday. Inasmuch as its words tend to convey a sense of birthright and heritage, it is often referred to as the Negro National Anthem and sung at the opening of various public gatherings. LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING Lift every voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chastening rod, In this Oct. 28, 2009, file photo, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., right, talks with an aide on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democrats say they never saw it coming, but the breakdown of President Barack Obama?s health-care overhaul was abetted by their own mistakes. ? AP PHOTO/HARRY HAMBURG, FILE

Obama calls for more small-business loans

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered; Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who has brought us thus far on the way; Thou who hast by Thy might, Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee, Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee; Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand, True to our God, True to our native land. ?The next step is what I announced at the State of the Union, which is to call on our Republican friends to present their ideas. What I?d like to do is have a meeting whereby I?m sitting with the Republicans, sitting with the Democrats, sitting with health-care experts, and let?s just go through these bills. ... And then I think that we?ve got to go ahead and move forward on a vote,? Obama said Thursday. ?But as I said at the State of the Union, I think we should be very deliberate, take our time. We?re going to be moving a jobs package forward over the next several weeks; that?s the thing that?s most urgent right now in the minds of Americans all across the country.? White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Friday that there is no meeting set yet for the president to talk over healthcare strategy with Republican and Democratic lawmakers. ?There?s nothing on the block on this right now,? he said. ?But I think this just goes to the president continuing to want to hear ideas.? Bipartisan congressional leaders are planning to join Obama at the White House on Tuesday, but Gibbs reiterated that the meeting will be centered on how to create jobs and boost the economy. Obama had also said Thursday night that ?we?ve got to move forward on a vote? on health care. When asked what the president meant by that, Gibbs said only that White House officials are ?still working with Capitol Hill on the best way forward.? President Barack Obama speaks during his visit to Oasis Mechanical Contractors, in Lanham, Md., on Friday after meeting with small business leaders. ? AP PHOTO/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS Obama?s comments came just hours after he met Thursday afternoon with Democratic congressional leaders, but the discussion focused mostly on jobs, and the leaders emerged with no announcement about a path ahead for health care. Rank-and-file Democrats are eager for them to settle on one by the end of next week, after which lawmakers will return to their states and districts for a weeklong recess where they?ll likely face questions from voters on the issue. Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, said Friday that the White House has not requested a sit-down on health care with Republicans. ?The president wants to start over on health care? Sen. McConnell?s been saying that for months,? said Stewart. ? (AP) www.phillytrib.com Established 1884 Philadelphia, PA 19146-9975 by Christopher J. Perry Sr. Editor-Publisher 1884-1921 The Philadelphia Tribune Published Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday by The Philadelphia Tribune Company 520-26 South 16th Street Philadelphia, PA 19146-9975 Walter R. Livingston Jr. Chairman of the Board Robert W. Bogle President/CEO Bertha N. Godfrey Senior Vice President MEMBER National Newspaper Publishers Association African American News and Information Consortium National Newspaper Association Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Postmaster Send change of address to: 520 South 16th Street Philadelphia, PA 19146-1597 (USPS 430 - 140) Periodicals Postage Paid at Philadelphia under the Act of March 3, 1978

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