ASHINGTON – Former President Bill Clinton told anxious Senate Democrats on Tuesday to pass a health care bill soon because the U.S. economy can’t resist the toxic combination of exorbitant medical costs and nearly 50 million uninsured for much longer.

“My argument was that this is an economic imperative,” Clinton said after the closed-door meeting.

Addressing Democrats’ insecurities about the complex legislation, Clinton said he told the senators “there is no perfect bill — you’ll always have unintended consequences. There will be amendments to this next year. But the worst thing to do is nothing.”

The amendments by Democratic Sens. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Charles Schumer of New York were opposed by all 10 Republicans on the committee and a few Democrats, including committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus of Montana.

Baucus explained that he liked much about the idea of a public option but that he knew a health care bill containing the provision would fail to win enough support in the full Senate to overcome a Republican filibuster.

“I fear if this provision is in the bill, it will hold back meaningful reform this year,” Baucus said.

Rockefeller said that unfair practices by insurance companies required a not-for-profit alternative that would give consumers a lower-cost option and, in some cases, the only coverage they could get.

Democratic leaders in Congress did not expect much Republican support as they pressed President Obama’s ambitious legislative agenda. But the pushback they are receiving from some of their own has come as an unwelcome surprise.

As the Senate inches closer to approving a $410 billion spending bill, the internal revolt has served as a warning to party leaders pursuing Obama’s far-reaching plans for health-care, energy and education reform.

CBS) Proclaiming to a joint session of Congress and an recession-scarred American people that the “day of reckoning has arrived,” President Obama said Tuesday night that the country must now act “boldly and wisely” to take charge of its future.

In a speech pegged on dire economic rhetoric, but laced with assurances that America will get back on its feet, the president vowed that the country would emerge stronger from the current crisis.