"EL CONGRESO ESTÁ A PUNTO PARA VOTAR SOBRE LA REFORMA DE LA "ASISTENCIA SANITARIA" DE BARACK OBAMA".

"Congress poised, to vote

on Obama healthcare Bill".

"21.03.2010."Congress was poised tonight to approve the boldest piece of social legislation presented to American lawmakers in half a century, but the fate of a $940 billion healthcare Bill and possibly of the Obama presidency, depended on just eight anti-abortion Democrats".

"After 14 months of debate, the tiny group of pro-life Democrats was still waiting for an executive order from President Obama before deciding whether to support the Bill on which he has staked his credentials as a leader who can govern as well as campaign".

"White House sources promised such an order would be issued, boosting confidence among leading Democrats as the day wore on that they had the votes to bring near-universal health coverage to the US for the first time in its history".

"Facing solid Republican opposition, and multiple defections from their own ranks, Democrats needed 216 votes in the House to pass the Bill, which would outlaw abuses by the health insurance industry and extend coverage to 32 million Americans who now lack it".

"As the House of Representatives began its historic Sunday session, party whips could be sure of only 214 votes, with Republicans vowing to fight the Bill to the end and the party’s House minority leader warning Mr Obama that he faced "political Armageddon" even if he won the vote".

"Running a gauntlet of furious protesters camped out on Capitol Hill, congressmen assembled for the first of four votes including one that Republicans hoped to use to force the pro-life Democrats to break cover and side with them against the Bill".

"The congressional pro-life lobby claims the Bill does too little to rule out the use of federal funds for elective abortions, while the Democrats’ powerful pro-choice grouping has fought any concession to the party’s social conservatives".

"In a sign of the Democrats’ growing confidence yesterday, party leaders abandoned a plan to allow the House to "deem" the healthcare Bill passed without actually voting on it. The tactic had been condemned by Republicans as an insult to democracy, and by one influential talk-show host as “an affront to God".

"Both sides in the debate, on health reform admit it is not just about how or whether Americans are reimbursed for visits to the doctor, but how and whether the state should be involved in their private lives".

"The passions fuelled by more than a year of furious argument from town hall meetings in Arizona, to the floor of the Senate were on display again in Washington at the weekend".

"Democratic congressmen arriving at the Capitol, for procedural votes yesterday were spat on and subjected to racist and homophobic abuse which Republican leaders yesterday sought to disown".

"Bill Clinton, whose presidency was hobbled by the defeat of his health reform plan in 1994, returned to the fray to work the phones along with Mr Obama. Both men focused their attention on three dozen Democrats still on the fence because of the cost of the Bill as well as the abortion issue".

"Many waverers also fear that the Senate, cannot be trusted to pass a promised package of changes to the Bill on which the lower House was due to vote".

"Those changes include the repeal of a special $100 million windfall for Nebraska in return for one Senate vote that Republicans have used to hammer the Administration for old-fashioned pork-barrel politics where it had promised a new era of transparency".

"The so-called "cornhusker kickback" would disappear if Senate Democrats pass the changes that the House has demanded through “reconciliation”, which requires a simple majority of 51 votes in the upper chamber".

"Other special deals remain in the legislation, however, giving ammunition to Republicans who have vowed to punish Democrats at the midterm elections in November".

"Connecticut Democrats have won special backing for a $100 million hospital in their state, and Louisiana will receive $300 million in federal funding that Mr Obama has justified as belated compensation for Hurricane Katrina".

"Mr Obama invited the entire Democratic congressional caucus to the White House yesterday for a final, emotional appeal to "get this done".

"He reminded his guests that universal healthcare, has been a dream of American presidents since Theodore Roosevelt first floated the idea in 1912. He insisted that lining up behind the Bill would prove to be “smart politics” as well as good policy".

"That may be true for him, but it may not be for his party’s rank and file - who face the voters in just eight months".