AP Sources: Bipartisan Senate negotiators have Sept. 15 deadline on health care

AP Sources: Deadline for bipartisan health effort

WASHINGTON — Democratic officials say a Sept. 15 deadline has been imposed on efforts to produce a bipartisan agreement on health care legislation in the Senate.

The deadline comes at the end of a tumultuous week in which a group of three Democrats and three Republicans reported significant progress toward a compromise, then struggled to avert the collapse of their talks.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss private deliberations.

If enforced, the deadline would mean that Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee, would convene the panel in mid-September to vote either on a bipartisan bill or a measure crafted to Democratic specifications.