(03-16) 04:00 PDT Washington -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, surrounded by at least a dozen restless babies at a news conference Monday, declared that when she brings health care reform to the House floor, likely by the end of this week, "we will have the votes."
If she is correct - and no one is more skilled at the inside legislative game than the San Francisco Democrat - Pelosi will have delivered a monumental victory for President Obama and an achievement that Democrats have promised for decades. Driven by what she has described as a moral and political imperative, Pelosi said last summer that health care reform is what Democrats "were born to do."
Her speakership may be on the line. Failure is not an option for her or the White House as she rolls the dice to bring the bruising, year-long battle over the health care bill, which will cost the government nearly $1 trillion over the next decade, to a conclusion within the next few days.
The plan is for the House to pass the Senate version and send it to Obama for his signature and enactment. Certain fixes the House is demanding for passage of the more conservative Senate bill will be included in a separate, special measure that will go to the Senate for an up-or-down vote that avoids a filibuster.
rest at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/15/MN641CG2S3.DTL
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