US Democrats close in on healthcare agreement

Congressional Democrats neared a deal on a landmark US healthcare overhaul on Friday, with President Barack Obama pushing for quick action before a special Senate election that threatens the bill's future. Negotiators from the House of Representatives and Senate reported fresh progress after meeting at the White House for the third straight day and said they were about to send the bill's major provisions to budget analysts for cost estimates. "We did well today. We agreed on some things," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid told reporters after the three-hour meeting. He provided no details. A White House spokesman said in a statement that negotiators worked through a number of issues and would seek a cost estimate on a number of proposals. Negotiators reached no final agreement on an overall package. "The next step in the process is to evaluate the costs and savings associated with the various proposals for each tenet of the legislation," the statement said.