WASHINGTON -- With Democrats increasingly confident they have enough support, the House of Representatives planned Saturday for a historic vote today that would enact the most dramatic changes in the nation's health care system since the creation of Medicare nearly half a century ago.
As a sign of that confidence - and to quiet concerns among Democrats as well as Republicans - House leaders abandoned a plan to approve the Senate's health care legislation without a direct vote.
President Barack Obama, in a politically charged visit to Capitol Hill, tried to rally support for the measure by telling the House's 253 Democrats to ignore the gloom-and-doom midterm election scenarios that Republican leaders and pundits have suggested if they pass the measure.
"You're here to represent your constituencies, and if you think your constituencies honestly shouldn't be helped, you shouldn't vote for this," Obama said. "But if you agree the system's not working for ordinary families ... then help us fix this system."
"Don't do it for me. Don't do it for the Democratic Party," Obama said. "Do it for the American people."
Before Obama's arrival on the Hill, House leaders worked feverishly to round up the last undecided votes to reach the 216 needed for passage.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was confident about today's prospects, saying flatly, "We will pass the bill."
The House is to begin voting this afternoon, unless Republicans try to use parliamentary rules to delay that. GOP lawmakers pledged Saturday to continue fighting the legislation, which they say will drive up government spending and health care costs, The Tribune Washington Bureau reported.
"This weekend, House Republicans will stand with the American people and do everything in our power to defend their freedom and bring about health-care reform that gives them more freedom and not more government," said Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, the No. 3 House Republican.
The pace was furious and sometimes heated both inside and outside the Capitol, where thousands of demonstrators gathered to protest the bill.
Voting vs. deeming
Inside the building, House Democratic leaders dropped a controversial plan that would have "deemed" Senate-approved health-care legislation passed as part of a resolution setting rules of debate but would not have required House members to vote directly on the legislation.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Democrats abandoned "deem and pass," because the party leadership is confident that it can get the votes to pass the health-care bill.
"We determined that we could do this, and it's a better process," Hoyer told reporters. "We believe we have the votes."
The maneuver had been seen as a way to allow Democrats to avoid voting on the bill, but Democrats were uneasy about the prospect. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., said it looked like a "back-door deal."
"We've had sanity prevail here," said Rep. Dennis Cordoza, D-Calif., a supporter of the legislation. "This is something that should be done in the light of day."
Winning over the wary
Pelosi and others continued to meet with a handful of anti-abortion Democrats who had refused to support the bill. Several alternatives were proposed, including an executive order reiterating federal policy toward abortion would not change, or a separate vote to toughen abortion restrictions.
A separate vote on abortion language will not happen today, said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., a leader of the abortion-rights forces.
Meanwhile, House Democratic leaders hoped to attract more nervous Democrats by showing them a letter from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and signed by more than 50 Democratic senators that says they'll support the reconciliation bill. House Democrats have been wary of being left in the lurch by the famously unpredictable Senate.
