The stage is being set for a rare and historic weekend vote on landmark health care legislation in the House of Representatives. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has left herself enough wiggle room to delay the vote in the event that the thorny issues of abortion and immigration prevent her from rounding up the 218 votes she needs to pass the bill, but she and other House health care leaders will be working throughout the day to resolve the concerns of the conservative Democrats who are still withholding support.
Any final agreements Pelosi makes with her caucus will be cemented by the Rules Committee, which, by procedural norm, will set the contours of the debate and vote on the House floor.
In a pinch, though, a strong push by President Obama could come in handy, and that’s what he’ll be doing, both in body and in spirit today and tomorrow. Obama is expected to give the House bill a full-throated endorsement today, and to visit House Democrats tomorrow ahead of the vote. That visit was originally planned for today, but was delayed after yesterday’s fatal shooting spree at Fort Hood, TX.
The rules of the House are much different than the rules of the Senate, and generally allow for much less minority chicanery (there is no unlimited debate in the House and, because of that, no supermajority requirements) but, unless Democrats use every prerogative at their disposal, there may still be opportunities for Republicans to poison the bill. We’ll keep an eye on that and everything else over the course of the day.
