Democrats ’strategy’ to the merger of bills to reform health began to crumble under increasing attacks Wednesday, including a number of criticisms from two Democratic senators from Colorado. The final negotiations on the merger of the bills began in earnest Wednesday as congressional leaders spent more than eight hours behind closed doors at the White House through a process that does not go through a formal conference committee cut the Republican share. They dug a series of thorny issues that separate the two versions of the bill passed the House and Senate – including abortion, access to health insurance for illegal immigrants, and how to pay for sweeping legislation, which ensure an estimated 37 million Americans over the next decade. A White House statement said they had made “significant progress in reducing these gaps” between the bills. Republicans have been howling about the process for almost two weeks – House, John Boehner, Minority Leader, R-Ohio, called it “a breeding ground for many of the illegal kickbacks” – but now faces congressional leaders a growing rebellion within his own ranks. Wednesday, Sen. Mark Udall, a Democrat from Colorado. , Suggested that the talks lack transparency and appealed to televise the final negotiations. Sen. Michael Bennett, a Democrat from Colorado. , Also said that final talks should be open to live cameras. “I have not been in Washington long, but one thing I can say is that this is a people who can use some fresh air and some real transparency,” said Bennet. “The results of the negotiations on the draft health reform law are too important to be done behind closed doors.” These criticisms could create significant difficulties for efforts to end the health bill and move on to other legislation before the press this year election cycle swamps Congress. The media and others have said final televised negotiations between Congress and the Senate would be natural given the enormous potential impact of the legislation. Instead, Democrats have created a process in which leaders of the House and Senate forge key commitments, then send the bill to retrofit the two chambers. These negotiations are expected for days if not weeks, and Democratic leaders have said the conference would provide only Republicans – only one of whom voted for the bills in either chamber – a new opportunity in the obstruction . “This conference non-conference was an attempt to accelerate this process and bring to an end. A committee of the conference seemed an area where more Republicans to attack Democrats and liberals are angry with the leadership,” said Julian Zelizer, an expert on Congress at the University of Princeton. “The problem is that it looked bad. Republicans are using this to say health care is rushed and done behind closed doors because the Democrats want to hide something,” he said. “That’s why we’re seeing now the Democrats getting nervous about the process.”