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Senate Democrats said Wednesday there is daylight between a pro-life provision they opposed in an anti-trafficking bill and abortion language tucked into a House deal to overhaul Medicare, signaling their objections may not torpedo long-sought reforms to how the health program pays doctors.

Do we like it? No, Sen. Charles Schumer, New York Democrat, said of the Medicare language. Is it as severe as the provision in the trafficking bill? No, so well see where we come out.

President Obama on Wednesday said that hell likely sign the bill that would resolve the annual threat of automatic Medicare cuts to physicians.

SEE ALSO: Abortion fight threatens Medicare deal as Dems balk at pro-life language

Ive got my pen ready to sign a good, bipartisan bill, which would be really exciting, Mr. Obama said while promoting the fifth anniversary of Obamacare. I love when Congress passes bipartisan bills that I can sign.

The Medicare bill would repeal an outdated budget tool that Congress overrides each year, anyway, through a so-called doc fix, even when the formula calls for a cut to doctors pay.

Lawmakers in both parties agree that the yearly overrides are silly, and the House is set to vote on its bill Thursday. The Congressional Budget Office said the cost of the fix is $200 billion, to be shared about evenly between Medicare beneficiaries and providers.

Republican Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi of California reached agreement on the bill, which has drawn the ire of some womens groups because it subjects community health centers to abortion curbs that Congress has enacted annually since 1979 the so-called the Hyde amendment.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Mrs. Pelosi has an impeccable record of standing up for the right of women to choose and make their own decisions about their health care.

We certainly put a lot of stock in the views of the minority leader on this, he said.

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Democrats may not sink House bill on doctors' pay

WASHINGTON When influential Democrats with stakes in different investment groups needed help securing visas as part of a complicated foreign investor program, they sought out a fellow Democrat. That Democrat happened to be in charge of the immigration agency overseeing their applications.

A report by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general says the head of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the time, Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, improperly intervened in three cases involving prominent Democrats.

One of the cases involved a company run by the youngest brother of likely Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The report released Tuesday doesn't accuse Mayorkas of violating any laws. Mayorkas says he disagrees with the findings but that he will learn from the report and from the process.

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Homeland Security watchdog criticizes official who helped Democrats with visa program

The Republican senators eyeing the presidency in 2016 are facing some political peril this week on Capitol Hill, where Democrats are trying to force them to take tough votes that could harm them in the future.

The basic idea is to force the GOP White House hopefuls to choose between appeals to the conservative primary electorate and more moderate general-election voters.

The votes will come on the yearly budget resolution, which sets spending levels for the next fiscal year but also allows nearly unlimited amendments on most any subject. Many of the amendments are expected to come during a marathon Thursday session known as vote-o-rama that could last into the wee hours of Friday morning.

Democrats say a handful of amendments will put Republicans in a difficult position in which they will sacrifice something no matter what they choose. The Democratic strategy: Tack right in the votes, and well go after you in the general election. Move left, and your competitors will eat you alive in the primary.

We want to make certain the budget is an opportunity to say which side are you on, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters last week. Taking sides could have consequences for not only potential presidential candidates but also incumbent senators.

These budget amendments, coming on a special piece of legislation that does not go to the president for his signature, cannot become law, but they do force lawmakers to go on the record on controversial issues. When Republicans were in the Senate minority, they similarly sought to use budget amendments to make Democrats uncomfortable.

The first amendment, pushed by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), came up for a vote Tuesday. It asked senators to weigh in on closing tax loopholes, including a break for corporate jets, and shunting the revenue into the nations infrastructure needs.

That amendment failed largely along party lines, though one Republican expected to face a tight reelection race next year, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), did not vote. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), on a media blitz after his presidential campaign announcement, took no votes Tuesday.

In other votes, the parties traded amendments that took dueling approaches on equal pay for women. Independent Angus King (Maine) and two moderate Democrats, Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.), voted for both measures.

An amendment offered by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) would have mandated a 60-vote supermajority to pass any spending bill cutting Social Security benefits. Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) all potential GOP presidential contenders voted against the amendment, while Kirk was joined by five other Republicans in supporting it. It fell nine votes short of the 60 necessary for adoption.

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Democrats to dial up some tough votes for GOPs 2016 contenders in Senate

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) So now even Jerry Brown is starting to look good to Democrats, as the anyone but Hillary undercurrent continues to swell.

The 76-year-old governor of California wowed the politicos with his appearance on NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday. He was passionate, sharp and didnt speak in code.

This is Jerry Brown reaching the gold standard, former Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harman of California cooed on the program. Brown first took office as governor in 1975 and is now in his second stint as state chief executive.

Brown has so far deferred to Hillary Clinton as the presumptive Democratic nominee, though he told moderator Chuck Todd without hesitation on Sunday that he would be in the race if he were 10 years younger.

The flutter over Brown came in a week after Ezra Klein made the case in a widely noted Vox article for former Vice President Al Gore to run against Clinton, whose imminent announcement of her candidacy has forestalled any serious rivals.

And the Boston Globe devoted a package of editorials and op-eds over the weekend urging Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to step up and run against Clinton.

While many of Clintons defenders and a fair sprinkling of objective experts are maintaining that the brouhaha over her private emails and even over possible conflicts of interest in foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation will subside, there is a palpable fear in the party that the former secretary of state could be buried under her baggage.

In a week when Ted Cruz, a 44-year-old first-term senator no one had heard of four years ago, became the first Republican to officially throw his hat in the ring, Democrats seem obsessed with finding a political celebrity with nationwide name recognition to challenge Clinton.

The fact that all these wish candidates are, like Clinton herself, eligible for Medicare, does not seem to dent their enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are entertaining a wide field of potential candidates, with their entry in the dynastic sweepstakes, Jeb Bush, a youthful 62.

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Darrell Delamaide's Political Capital: Democrats have hard time finding anyone but Hillary to run

Cornyn: We Need Six Brave Democrats

By: Senator John Cornyn

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Cornyn: We Need Six Brave Democrats - Video