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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gathered one more vote for health care legislation Thursday by swearing in San Francisco Bay Area Rep. John Garamendi.
“We are right on the brink” said Pelosi issuing a call for House members to convene 9 a.m. Saturday to vote on the 10-year $1.05 trillion health care overhaul.
Does Pelosi believe she has the 218 votes needed in the House to pass the bill?
“We will” she said.
A number of House Democrats, including several from the South have announced they will oppose the measure – among them Ike Skelton of Missouri, chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
Skelton expressed worries that tax dollars would pay for abortions, a concern that was the focus of a letter sent to House leaders urging them to tighten provision on using federal money to terminate pregnancies.
President Obama, in Ft. Hood, Texas today following the shooting at a base that left 13 dead. He had been planning to visit the House today for a last minute vote rally.
Anti-Pelosi forces are out, among them “tea party” activists calling health care reform a government “takeover” and dubbing “Pelosi-care.”
With 177 Republicans likely to oppose the health care bill, the Democrats will not be able to lose any more than 40 of their own party members.
10:15 am - Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana told House members that HR 3962 amounts to a "government takeover" at a time of 10.2 percent unemployment. "Now is not the time" for health care reform and the taxes it will represent on small business, he said.
9:45 am - Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said most House members don'e know what is in the 1,190 page bill. He too said it will lead to a "massive government takeover" and will hike taxes.
Pelosi holds a 40-vote margin over Republicans in the House. Not one Republican is expected to vote for the bill according to House Republican Eric Cantor, R-Va.
The Affordable Health Care for America Act H.R. 3962 gives 36 million more people access to insurance, extending coverage to about 96 percent of the population.
House members are taking the opportunity to talk about upcoming issues for a vote, as well as unemployment, the New York Yankees and the Ft. Hood shooting.
House Rules Committee Chair. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) will convene the Committee at 2 p.m. today to discuss the vote on the rules for the floor debate on the health care bill expected to take place tomorrow. #