Democratic leaders in the US House of Representatives are confident they have the votes to pass the healthcare reform bill and deliver President Barack Obama a landmark political victory.
With a final vote looming tonight, the White House and a small band of anti-abortion Democrats struck a deal to have Mr Obama issue an executive order reaffirming a ban on using federal funds for abortion.
The deal won over anti-abortion leader Bart Stupak and a handful of other Democratic holdouts, clearing the way for House Democrats to reach the 216 votes they need for final passage.
‘We're well past 216,’ votes for the healthcare bill, Mr Stupak said in announcing the agreement. He also will get floor time to discuss the ban on federal funds, which is the current law.
The deal followed two days of intense negotiations with Mr Stupak and a dwindling band of undecided members as House leaders tried to nail down the 216 votes needed to pass the bill over unified Republican opposition.
‘We have the votes now,’ Representative John Larson, head of the House Democratic Caucus, said on ABC's ‘This Week,’
before the Stupak deal.
Other House leaders were more cautious in their assessment.
House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer told NBC's ‘Meet the Press’ the number of votes still needed for passage were in the ’low single digits.’
The proposed overhaul, a compromise between rival House and Senate versions of the bill passed late last year, would bring the US closer than ever to guaranteeing healthcare coverage to all of its citizens.
Using a blend of expanded government health programs and subsidies for millions to buy private insurance, the bill would add some 32m Americans to the ranks of those covered for a total of 95% of Americans.
It would come a century after president Theodore Roosevelt called for a national approach to US healthcare.
The Republican party is unanimously opposed to the legislation, which it says is unaffordable and represents a government takeover of a large part of the US economy.
