for more on that, joining me now is senior adviser valerie jaret, a long-time confidant of the presidentis is a big press conference and the president is going to make a big pitch for his case. tell us about that. >> the president always looks forward to these prime time press conferences. it gives him a chance to speak directly to the american people. the issue of health care is one that he feels very passionately about. he's been working hard on it. we've made a lot more progress than we've made over the last ten years. we're close. i think it's important with all of the swirl for him to take a step back and really explain to everybody why this is so important and why it's important that we pass it now. >> has the president considered asking the congress to stay through august to get this deal done? >> you know, it hasn't come to that yet. as you know, this is a work in progress. we've been meeting around the clock. serve working hard and i think he's optimistic that we can get there. i think it's premature to ask congress to stay later. we're taking it one day at a time. >> core democ