President Obama is delaying his trip to Indonesia, Guam and Australia next week, an administration official said Friday, so the White House can focus on passing health care legislation in the House.
The president’s international trip had grown into a source of frustration among many House Democrats, who complained privately to the White House that they were being forced to take a quick vote on health care so Mr. Obama and his family could leave on the overseas trip next week.
In fact, the president is no longer taking the first lady, Michelle Obama, and their two daughters on the trip, an administration official said. The president agreed to delay his departure from March 18 to March 21, an administration official said, shortening the trip for official business only in an effort to show flexibility in the final push on health care legislation and to give Mr. Obama more time to win over skeptical House members. The three-day delay effectively sets a new timetable for the House vote on the measure.
Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, had repeatedly dismissed the possibility of canceling the trip during his briefing on Thursday. But senior administration officials — and the president himself — heard several complaints from House members and leadership that the trip was threatening to be a setback for the fragile health care deal, aides said.
The trip had coincided with Malia and Sasha Obama’s spring break and was intended to be their first visit to Indonesia, where the president lived for several years as a child. But the White House, mindful of the criticism that the trip was as much a family vacation as an official trip, changed plans amid the pressing health care debate.
The president is scheduled to return to Washington late on Friday, March 26.
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