President Obama and top Congressional Democrats held a marathon negotiating session in an effort to reach agreements on healthcare legislation. Senior House Democrats said the talks were making progress, but had not produced firm agreements. The discussions, which ran from 10:30 a.m. to 6:40 p.m., were, in effect, a substitute for a Congressional conference committee, the customary means of resolving differences between the House and the Senate on major legislation, the New York Times reports.
