"This continues to be a pressing issue," agreed Carmela Coyle, an executive with the American Hospital Association, which helped win an 18-month moratorium on any new building, which was adopted as part of last year's Medicare bill.
New York City, for example, is pressing manufacturers to agree to pick up at apartment buildings.
Peru is pressing Chile to agree the extradition of its former president, Alberto Fujimori, on human-rights and corruption charges.It is easy to pooh-pooh international courts.
In five days, Steve Jobs would announce the first iPad, and he was pressing Sargent to agree to a new way of selling books.
He has been pressing Russia to agree on a political transition in the country that would see Bashar al-Assad leave power.
And with Mr. Emanuel intent on shuttering dozens of poorly performing schools, the union is pressing him to agree to strong provisions to reinstate teachers in other schools when theirs are closed.
Mr. Corzine and other state leaders could start by pressing unions to agree to raise the retirement age for younger state employees — those more than 10 or 15 years away from retirement — to 64 or 65.
Up until the Beijing talks, the other concerned parties -- particularly South Korea, Japan and China -- had been urging the United States not to let form get in the way of substance, and had been pressing Washington to agree to direct talks.
The chief North Korean negotiator, Pak Chol-su, is pressing South Korea to agree to an early resumption of work at the factory complex, citing fears among factory owners that if their plants are not restarted soon, their equipment will soon start deteriorating in the monsoon season.
In this tricky period, Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader, is quietly pressing Trent Lott to agree to a 50-50 split on all committee memberships for the new term, with perhaps the chairman's title of each committee going to a Republican in deference to Vice President-elect Dick Cheney's role as tie-breaker.
