Obama pleads for health care overhaul, vote looms

Posted November 08, 2009 04:22:00

Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON- President Barack Obama, fighting for his top domestic priority, urged fellow Democrats in the House of Representatives to "vote yes" Saturday on the broadest US health care overhaul in a half-century.

"This is our moment to deliver. I urge members of congress to rise to this moment, answer the call of history and vote yes for health insurance reform for America," he urged in a speech from the White House Rose Garden.

House Democratic leaders predicted their 258-seat majority would hold together enough to rally the 218 votes needed to pass the 10-year, trillion-dollar bill over united opposition from the chamber's 177 Republicans.

"We will be making history with our vote," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed after Obama made a rare in-person plea for Democratic unity in closed-door talks at the Congress.

The bill aims to extend health coverage to 36 million Americans who lack it now, create a government-backed insurance plan to compete with private firms, and end denial of coverage based on preexisting medical problems.

Democrats, who can afford 40 defections and still pass the bill, hoped for a vote as early as Saturday but were watching for possible Republican delay tactics and cautious about intra-party tensions on the issue of abortion.

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