It appears more than likely that Congress will leave for its August hiatus without passing a health care overhaul bill and the legislation’s sticking points go beyond partisan politics, one lawmaker said Sunday.

“This is very hard. It’s hard to get Democrats together to agree on a bill, let alone Republicans,” Sen. Jon Kyl , R-Ariz., told “Fox News Sunday.” Kyl was one of a number of lawmakers appearing on the Sunday talk shows to discuss what lies ahead for President Obama’s signature domestic policy.

Both Democrats and Republicans have said they want to improve the system and provide care for almost 50 million Americans who lack health insurance coverage, but they remain deeply divided over how to reach that goal.

Kyl said it might be a “good thing” that the legislative process has slowed and the recess might give members of Congress a chance to go home and take their constituents’ collective temperature on the issue.

“You know, this is a democratic Republic, where the people are supposed to tell us what to do,” he said. “They’ve now heard about a lot of different plans, and I think it’s a very good thing for us to go back home over the August recess, lay it out to our constituents and say, ‘All right, folks, what do you think we ought to do? Here are the pros and cons of all of these different proposals.’

“The American people need to speak to this. And I think, if they do, we’ll make much wiser decisions.”

Last week was the scene of more contentious private and public negotiations on a health overhaul between House leaders and moderate “Blue Dog” Democrats.

Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry A. Waxman , D-Calif., and Blue Dogs on his committee used the media to trade barbs and accusations on July 25, with Waxman accusing the moderates of conspiring to hand over control of his committee to Republicans, and Blue Dogs suggesting that Waxman had lied to them. The day ended with the two sides in a joint appearance, promising to continue talks that had appeared to dissolve in acrimony — but they did not offer any evidence that they were any closer to an accord.

There will be no vote in the Senate, after Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., agreed last week to give Finance Chairman Max Baucus , D-Mont., more time to negotiate a bill. Reid and Baucus met with President Obama for about an hour on July 25 to discuss the legislation.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, also appearing on the Fox news program, said the administration is “still very optimistic” about the progress of legislation and “we are at a point in this debate where about 80 percent of what we need to get — comprehensive health care reform that cuts costs for small businesses and families, makes it affordable for them — we’ve got about 80 percent agreement. We’re still working on that last 20 percent.”

On ABC’s “This Week,” Sens. Jim DeMint , R-S.C., and Kent Conrad , D-N.D., peripherally agreed on the concept of slowing down in order to get a bill that would generate more agreement but diverted on the elements of an overhaul.

“My goal is to protect the right of every American to make their own health care decisions,” said DeMint. “And if we can do that, we can come up with a bill.”

DeMint cited some Republican proposals he said Democrats opposed and that the “only proposals we’re getting from Democrats is more government control of health care.”