Last week saw a rollercoaster of events that seemingly gave momentum to the controversial health reform initiative and then saw it slowed down, going back and forth like see-saw.

One major setback for the White House was another Congressional Budget Office review that showed the current Democratic plan adding $239 billion to the deficit over ten years, a figure that opponents jumped on immediately.

"Opponents of health reform warn that this is all some big plot for socialized medicine or government-run health care with long lines and rationed care," said President Obama in his weekend radio address.

"That's not true," he added. "I don't believe that government can or should run health care. But I also don't think insurance companies should have free reign to do as they please."

Missing from the President's rhetoric on Friday and Saturday was any mention of the word "August" which he has said repeatedly is when he wants action by the House and Senate on health care before Congress goes on its late Summer break.

That came after a group of six Senators from both parties urged Senate Democratic Leaders to slow down and not try to jam a bill through in the next two to three weeks.

"While we are committed to providing relief for American families as quickly as possible, we believe taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17 percent of our economy and every individual in the U.S.," the group said.

I will say again that if a bill was put on the floor today, it would not pass in either the House or the Senate.

But like the Cap and Trade/Climate Change legislation, given some time, Democrats in the House could still muscle this bill through.

I still think the odds are against it, but I wouldn't rule it out.

The key players right now are the more moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats, as well as a group of freshmen Democratic lawmakers, many of whom are in swing districts.

As for the Blue Dogs, they have a lot of bark when it comes to fiscal responsibility, but often times in recent years, they have folded when the leadership puts the heat on them.

We'll see what happens this time.

The focus this week will be on the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House, which continues its public drafting (markup) session on Monday afternoon.

In the Senate, we will wait for a puff of white smoke from the Senate Finance Committee, which has been trying for several months to develop a plan to pay for the Democrats' reform bill.

At this time, the Democratic National Committee is actually running ads against both Democratic Senators and House members, trying to put the heat on them.

We'll see if it works, or just makes those lawmakers more stubborn and more reluctant to cut a deal.

For students of the Congress, this is going to be a fascinating next few weeks. This is big time, high stakes politics being played here, not for the weak or faint of heart.

In other words, I expect a lot of arms to be twisted and broken. We'll find out who within the Democratic Party has the guts to oppose this thing, and who is going to be steamrolled by a White House handing out legislative goodies.