Earlier today President Obama hosted what he described as a "very productive" meeting with Democratic Senators on the final stages of health care reform. Following the meeting, the President spoke briefly to the press on the current state of the debate:

There are still some differences that have to be worked on. This was not a roll call. This was a broad-based discussion about how we move forward. But whatever differences remain, there is broad consensus around reforms that will finally, number one, protect every American from the worst practices in the health insurance industry. No longer will these companies be able to deny you coverage if you have a preexisting illness or condition. No longer will they be able to drop you from coverage when you get sick. No longer will you have to pay unlimited amounts out of your own pocket for the treatments that you need. We are all in agreement on those reforms.

We agree on reforms that will finally reduce the costs of health care. Families will save on their premiums; businesses that will see their costs rise if we do nothing will save money now and in the future. This plan will strengthen Medicare and extend the life of that program. And because it gets rid of the waste and inefficiencies in our health care system, this will be the largest deficit reduction plan in over a decade.

...These aren't small changes. These are big changes. They represent the most significant reform of our health care system since the passage of Medicare. They will save money. They will save families money; they will save businesses money; and they will save government money. And they're going to save lives. That's why this reform is supported by groups like the AARP who represents most of America's seniors. That's why this reform has to pass on our watch.

Now, let's be clear.  The final bill won't include everything that everybody wants. No bill can do that. But what I told my former colleagues today is that we simply cannot allow differences over individual elements of this plan to prevent us from meeting our responsibility to solve a longstanding and urgent problem for the American people. They are waiting for us to act. They are counting on us to show leadership. And I don't intend to let them down, and neither do the people standing next to me. There's too much at stake for families who can't pay their medical bills, or see a doctor when they need to, or get the treatment they need. The stakes are enormous for them.

...So there are still disagreements that have to be ironed out. There is still work to be done in the next few days... [But] I am absolutely confident that if the American people know what's in this bill and if the Senate knows what's in this bill that this is going to pass, because it's right for America. And I'm feeling cautiously optimistic that we can get this done and start rolling up our sleeves and getting to work improving the lives of the American people.

Read the President's full remarks . . .

From the New York Times:

President Obama pressured the heads of the nation’s biggest banks on Monday to take “extraordinary” steps to revive lending for small businesses and homeowners, prompting assurances from some financial institutions that they would do more even as they continued to shed their supplicant status in Washington.

Meeting with top executives from 12 financial institutions, Mr. Obama sent a clear message that the industry had a responsibility to help nurse the economy back to health and do more to create jobs in return for the huge federal bailout last year that kept Wall Street and the banking system afloat…

During the hourlong meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Mr. Obama prodded the executives to stop fighting the regulation legislation intended to deal with the problems that led to the financial crisis, White House officials said.

“I made very clear that I have no intention of letting their lobbyists thwart reforms necessary to protect the American people,” Mr. Obama said in remarks after the meeting. “If they wish to fight common sense consumer protections, that’s a fight I’m more than willing to have…”

From the Wall Street Journal:

Senate Democrats on Monday evening dropped a plan to expand Medicare, winning the support of moderates and the reluctant acquiescence of liberals, in another major step toward building enough support to pass a health-care overhaul…

At an evening caucus of all 58 Democrats and the two independents who sit with the party, including Sen. Lieberman, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and other party leaders made clear they wanted to head off the dispute.

Sen. Evan Bayh (D., Ind.) said Democrats agreed that the dispute over Medicare shouldn't hold up legislation that would extend coverage to tens of millions of Americans.

"There are a lot of good things here," he said. "To use an old cliché, the general consensus was we shouldn't make the perfect the enemy of the good..."

Mr. Reid wants to vote on the legislation by Christmas, setting the stage for House-Senate negotiations on a final compromise bill in January. Among other things, the bill would expand Medicaid, which serves the poor, and create tax subsidies to help families purchase insurance…

Senate Democrats are set to visit the White House Tuesday to meet President Barack Obama, who is also pressing for action before Christmas…

Liberal Democrats suggested they would reluctantly go along with Mr. Lieberman's position. "There's enough good in this bill...that we ought to move it," said Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa)…

From USA Today:

A solid majority of Americans support the idea of a global treaty that would require the United States to reduce significantly greenhouse gas emissions, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, although many also express concern about the potential impact on the economy.

The results provide some encouragement for President Obama, who attends the United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen on Friday. By 55%-38%, those surveyed endorse a binding accord to limit the gases tied to global warming…

There's a lot of public support for various climate policy approaches that diminishes as you begin to put a specific dollar figure with it," says Barry Rabe, a University of Michigan political scientist who studies public opinion on the environment. He says the findings show many Americans open to persuasion…

Young people, those 18 to 29 years old, are by far the most supportive of a treaty, backing the idea by 66%-26%...

From the Michigan Post-Bulletin:

This holiday season children are not the only ones writing letters with their Christmas wishes.

Supporters and opponents of the Democrats' health care reform proposals are launching holiday letter-writing campaigns. Organizing for America, a political group run by the Democratic National Committee, has set up a Web site where supporters can send lawmakers an e-mail that says, "I am a constituent, and this holiday season, my wish is for health reform…"

From the Wall Street Journal:

President Barack Obama lashed out at Wall Street, calling bankers "fat cats" who don't get it, in an escalation of tensions with the industry.

Mr. Obama, speaking on the eve of Monday's meeting with the heads of major banks at the White House, said he would try to persuade bankers to free up more credit to businesses, with the aim of boosting job growth. But the president also expressed frustration with banks that the government has assisted.

"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street," Mr. Obama said in an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes" program on Sunday.

"They're still puzzled why is it that people are mad at the banks. Well, let's see," he said. "You guys are drawing down $10, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in -- in decades, and you guys caused the problem. And we've got 10% unemployment."

Mr. Obama is scheduled on Monday morning to meet with bankers to exchange ideas on ways to increase lending; to review the financial-industry regulatory bill moving through Congress; and to discuss bankers' compensation, the White House and industry representatives said…

White House economic adviser Larry Summers also criticized Wall Street Sunday. "Here is what I think they don't get...It was their irresponsible risk-taking in many cases that brought the economy to collapse," Mr. Summers, who chairs the National Economic Council, said on CNN's "State of the Union."

Mr. Summers knocked big banks for opposing the bill in Congress that would tighten regulatory controls over the financial industry. The House passed a version of the measure on Friday.

From the New York Times oped page, by Paul Krugman:

…with the meltdown caused by a runaway financial system still fresh in our minds, and the mass unemployment that meltdown caused still very much in evidence — every single Republican and 27 Democrats voted against a quite modest effort to rein in Wall Street excesses.

Let’s recall how we got into our current mess.

America emerged from the Great Depression with a tightly regulated banking system. The regulations worked: the nation was spared major financial crises for almost four decades after World War II. But as the memory of the Depression faded, bankers began to chafe at the restrictions they faced. And politicians, increasingly under the influence of free-market ideology, showed a growing willingness to give bankers what they wanted…

Given this history, you might have expected the emergence of a national consensus in favor of restoring more-effective financial regulation, so as to avoid a repeat performance. But you would have been wrong.

Talk to conservatives about the financial crisis and you enter an alternative, bizarro universe in which government bureaucrats, not greedy bankers, caused the meltdown. It’s a universe in which government-sponsored lending agencies triggered the crisis, even though private lenders actually made the vast majority of subprime loans…

But it also reflects the extent to which the modern Republican Party is committed to a bankrupt ideology, one that won’t let it face up to the reality of what happened to the U.S. economy.

So it’s up to the Democrats — and more specifically, since the House has passed its bill, it’s up to “centrist” Democrats in the Senate. Are they willing to learn something from the disaster that has overtaken the U.S. economy, and get behind financial reform?

From the Seattle Times:

They gathered, 300 strong, in Seattle's Occidental Park to rally for President Obama's health care reform today.

"The most humane way is to give everyone the same set of benefits and pay for it together," said Congressman Jim McDermott, speaking to the crowd. "Obama is creating a house of health. We're going to get a bill."

The Seattle rally was one of nine statewide put on by Organizing for America, a group formed by Obama and working to support his proposals, as health care reform…

Those at the rally waved their signs, "health care can't wait," and volunteers collected Christmas cards addressed to Washington Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, urging them to support health care reform…

"It's taking us too long to address it," said Seattle mayor-elect Mike McGinn. "But now it's within reach."