WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – President Barack Obama yesterday urged Senate Democrats to work out their differences on  healthcare reform and pass what will be the most significant  social legislation in decades.

Obama met with party members during a rare Sunday Senate  session as Democratic leaders push to pass major healthcare  reform this month, a top domestic priority for Obama.

“He urged us to get the job done,” said Senator Richard  Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat.

Senate Democratic leaders are struggling to resolve  differences over a proposed new government-run public insurance  plan and abortion language in an effort to gather the votes  needed to overcome solid Republican opposition.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, who played a  major role in writing the healthcare overhaul, predicted the  legislation would pass. Obama told senators the public would  reward Democrats for decades to come if they pass what will be  the most significant social legislation since Congress enacted  Social Security in 1935, Baucus said.

“You could tell it had an effect,” Baucus said.

Vice President Joe Biden joined the closed-door session.

“It’s very easy to get wrapped around the axle and forget  what this is all about,” said Democratic Senator Kent Conrad,  who played a significant role in developing the bill that aims  to rein in soaring healthcare costs and expand coverage to more  than 30 million people who now have no insurance.

Republicans uniformly oppose the bill, saying it would  bring too much government intrusion into the $2.5 trillion  healthcare system. They are urging far more modest measures  that aim to reduce premiums by limiting medical malpractice law  suits and allowing insurance companies to sell policies across  state lines. States now regulate health insurance markets.

Meanwhile, the Senate continued to work through the  amendments to the legislation. It failed to pass an amendment  by Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln that would have put new  limits on tax deductions healthcare insurance companies could  take for executive pay. The amendment would have put the limit  at $400,000. The legislation as it now stands limits the  deduction at $500,000.

A majority of senators, 56, voted for the amendment, but it  needed 60 votes to pass.