WASHINGTON - Four Democratic moderates in the House of Representatives brokered an agreement Wednesday to move ahead with a health care-overhaul plan, as the Obama administration and party leaders said they had cut $100 billion from their initial proposal and postpone any floor votes until after Congress' August recess.

The deal, said Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., one of the key players, had four major elements:

-Keeping the 10-year cost of the bill below $1 trillion by agreeing to $100 billion in cuts.

-Adjusting the "public option" - a government-run insurance program that would compete with private insurers - by allowing physicians and other health care providers to negotiate rates with the government plan.

-Exempting 86 percent of small businesses from any government mandate requiring them to provide health insurance. Businesses with payrolls below $500,000 would face no mandate.

-Postponing any full House vote until after Congress returns from its summer recess Sept. 8.

House Democratic leaders had badly wanted a floor vote on the health care-overhaul legislation before they leave for their five-week summer recess Friday.

However, conservative and moderate Democrats had complained that rushing through such a major piece of legislation, one that is already more than a thousand pages long, probably would mean that they would vote against it. Combined with solid Republican opposition, that could have defeated the legislation in the House.

The agreement between the four moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats and House Democratic leaders came after Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, and other administration officials pressed the Blue Dogs hard for days, including a final session Wednesday morning.

The Blue Dogs are a group of 52 conservative and moderate House Democrats who represent swing districts and are united behind principles of fiscal discipline.

The bill was stuck in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has been struggling all week to craft legislation. While the committee has 36 Democrats, seven Blue Dogs were balking at the leadership's bill.

"We came to the table wanting to squeeze out costs," said Ross, the chairman of the Blue Dog Health Care Task Force. "We came out understanding that we have."

Four of the committee's Blue Dogs - Ross and Reps. Baron Hill of Indiana, Bart Gordon of Tennessee and Zack Space of Ohio - agreed to the plan.

The other three didn't, however, including Rep. Charlie Melancon of Louisiana, the Blue Dogs' communications co-chairman.

"The bill doesn't generally get to where I feel comfortable," he said. "There are still a whole lot of things I need to understand."

Details could change, as the committee still has to take formal votes on the new provisions, and other amendments are likely to be offered. The Energy and Commerce panel is expected to complete that process this week.

In the Senate, six members of the Finance Committee, three from each party, also reported progress Wednesday toward an agreement

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said the Congressional Budget Office found that their still-evolving plan would lower the federal budget deficit, spur the growth of employer-provided health care coverage and cover 95 percent of Americans.

The panel's senior Republican, Charles Grassley of Iowa, warned in a Reuters interview that while the negotiators are making progress, they still have a long way to go and that issues of cost containment and financing remain unresolved.