WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Democratic congressional  leaders promised yesterday to push ahead with healthcare  reform despite a stinging setback in a Senate election, but  failed to agree quickly on a new approach.

The victory of Republican Scott Brown, who rode a wave of  voter anger on the health bill and other elements of President  Barack Obama’s agenda to an upset in Massachusetts, denied  Democrats the 60th Senate vote they need and left them with a  handful of alternatives with significant drawbacks.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said lawmakers would  take a few days to explore their options and would not push  through a healthcare bill before Brown takes his seat in the  Senate.

“We’re not going to rush into anything,” Reid told  reporters after a meeting of Democratic senators. “There are  many different things that we can do to move forward on  healthcare, but we’re not making any of those decisions now.”

Democrats were divided on how to proceed on the issue, with  nearly all of the potential options for passing healthcare  drawing criticism or doubts from some party members.

Obama urged lawmakers to agree quickly on core elements of  the bill and signaled he might accept a scaled-back version of  his sweeping healthcare overhaul, which he had made his top  legislative priority.

“I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce  around those elements in the package that people agree on,” he  told ABC News, citing insurance reforms, cost containment  measures and help for small businesses. House of Representatives Democratic leader Steny Hoyer  suggested Democrats should focus on “that which we think the  public can support.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the U.S.  Conference of Mayors that lawmakers had received the message  sent by Massachusetts voters.

“Last night, we heard the people and hopefully we will move  forward with their considerations in mind. But we will move  forward,” Pelosi said.  House and Senate Democratic leaders had been negotiating to  merge the healthcare bills passed in each chamber into one  version that could be passed again and sent to Obama.