Vote on health care could face delay

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Comments 0
Published: November 7, 2009

WASHINGTON — House Democrats acknowledged they don’t yet have the votes to pass a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system, and signaled they may push back the vote until Sunday or early next week.

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Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters in a conference call Friday that the make-or-break vote on President Barack Obama’s push to make health coverage part of the social safety net could face delay.

Democrats were originally hoping to pass the bill today — and officially, that’s still the plan.

But Democrats have yet to resolve a intraparty disputes over abortion funding and illegal immigrants’ access to medical coverage. They cleared one hurdle Friday when liberals supporting a government-run Medicare-for-all system withdrew their demand for a floor vote.

Hoyer acknowledged that Democrats are still short of the 218 votes they need to pass the bill. "There are many people who are still trying to get a comfort level that this is the right thing to do,” he said. "We’re very close.”

While Hoyer said he still expects a vote this evening, he said he has put lawmakers on notice they may be called to the House floor Sunday afternoon, or even Monday or Tuesday.

The White House issued a formal endorsement of the House bill, and said Obama plans to go to Capitol Hill to rally Democrats.