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House leaders pushing hard to get final votes
House is set to decide health-care proposal on Saturday; thousands of conservative opponents rally outside Capitol
AP Photo
Demonstrators chant on Capitol Hill during a Republican rally protesting Democrats’ plan for remaking the health-care system.
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Published: November 6, 2009
WASHINGTON - House Democratic leaders worked furiously yesterday to secure the final votes for weekend approval of a sweeping health-care overhaul as President Obama threw his weight behind the lobbying effort and Republicans dug in against the health plan.
Democratic vote-counters, working as thousands of conservative protesters chanted "Kill the bill" outside the Capitol and later swarmed through congressional office buildings, said they did not yet have the necessary 218 confirmed supporters. But they said they were confident they would exceed that total in time for a landmark vote set for Saturday on the $1.1 trillion, 10-year-health plan that many Democrats have sought for years.
Readying for the first floor test of legislation months in the making, top Democrats appealed to undecided legislators while trying to quell resistance from Hispanic House members worried that the bill was too punitive regarding illegal immigrants and anti-abortion legislators who fear that public money could be funneled toward abortions.
"We have a historic opportunity for us to, again, provide quality health care for all Americans," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. "It's something that many of us have worked our whole political lifetimes on."
Obama, who was expected to make a trip to the Capitol today for a final personal appeal, made a surprise public appearance at the White House yesterday to tout endorsements for the House bill from the American Medical Association and AARP, the senior advocacy group.
He noted that the endorsements covered viewpoints from two distinct sides of the debate: elderly Americans fearful that a health-care overhaul could cut into Medicare and the nation's doctors and medical professionals.
"We are closer to passing this reform than ever before," the president told reporters. "And now that the doctors and medical professionals of America are standing with us, now that the organizations charged with looking out for the interests of seniors are standing with us, we are even closer."
While Democrats sought to build support, Republicans engaged in an equally determined effort to block the legislation, with House Republicans lining up to speak to thousands of conservatives gathered at the West Front of the Capitol. No House Republican is expected to vote for the legislation, meaning that its entire support has to come from within the 258-member Democratic caucus.
At the rally, initiated by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., those attending were encouraged to press their legislators to vote against the bill. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, called it the "greatest threat to freedom that I have seen in the 19 years I've been in Washington."
Some Democrats from more conservative districts made it clear they would oppose the legislation. Several others, including Rep. Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, remained undecided. Altmire, a centrist Democrat from a district west of Pittsburgh, said he had been courted heavily in recent days by members of the Democratic leadership and their emissaries trying to nail down his vote.
"They are trying to get you any way they can," said Altmire, who also met for an hour yesterday with conservative constituents who traveled to Washington to take part in the rally. "I am doing the best I can against competing interests."
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