Health Reform Bill Hits Final Stretch

The bill that's set to overhaul health care coverage in the United States is expected to be voted by the House of Representatives later this week after the House Budget Committee approved the legislation on Monday in a 21-16 vote.

Democrats have shown confidence leading up to the final vote, although they admit that not all party members are on board yet.

House Majority Whip House James Clyburn of South Carolina said on Sunday that, "We've been working this thing all weekend and we will be working it going into the week. I am also very confident that we will get this done."

Speaking to ABC News after a rally in Ohio, President Obama said he believes "we are going to get the votes."

 "We are going to make this happen," he said.

Obama is scheduled to further speak on the issue on Wednesday as he joins Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said that she will do what is necessary to pass the bill through the House.

"I think we'll be in pretty good shape," she said to reporters on Tuesday.

Republicans, meanwhile, have continued their vow to fight passage of the legislation to the end.

House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio said on Sunday that, "I'm doing everything I can to prevent this bill from becoming law. Plain and simple."

"We do not want this bill passed. We want to kill the bill," said Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) during a rally on Capitol Hill.

Speaking of the Democrat's plan to "deem and pass" the legislation through the House, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) said, "Anyone who endorses this strategy will be forever remembered for trying to claim they didn't vote for something they did. It will go down as one of the most extraordinary legislative sleights of hand in history."

Preliminary results from polls conducted by NBC and the Wall Street Journal showed divided opinion on the issue among Americans, with 36 percent saying that they wouldn't re-elect a congressman that supports the bill, while 34 percent said that they would not vote for a lawmaker that opposes the bill's passage.

"There is no easy place right now in the health-care debate," Republican pollster Bill McInturff told Politico.

On Monday, National Council of Churches General Secretary Michael Kinnamon issued a "straightforward" message to the U.S. Congress saying it is time to pass "a desperately-needed reform of this country's health care system."

Kinnamon's letter, which said the leadership of the National Council of Churches is praying for Congress, declared: "As President Obama has said, the time for debating is behind us."

"What is needed now is the political and moral courage to act on behalf of the most vulnerable members of our society – those who are uninsured," Kinnamon said. "In this holy season of Lent, we pray that Congress will find such courage."

"May we as a nation demonstrate a commitment to the common good through a health care reform that places the well being of all at the center of our national life."

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