Pelosi Confident on Health Vote

WASHINGTON—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday expressed confidence she will have enough votes to pass a health overhaul, but acknowledged it could come at a political cost to lawmakers who back the measure.

Monday kicks off a critical week for Democrats to push ahead with their overhaul. President Barack Obama is expected to announce his preferred way forward for the bill. The White House has already laid the groundwork for Congress to complete the legislation using a process known as budget reconciliation that requires a simple majority in the Senate.

That process would start in the House. Ms. Pelosi said Sunday the House could unveil specific legislative language for the measure in a matter of days. Those would give more detail to the president's proposed changes to the Senate bill designed to appeal to House lawmakers.

Democrats seem poised to move forward without any support from Republicans, who say they see no way to work from the existing bill. That leaves Democrats with two critical challenges: figuring out how to maneuver through the reconciliation over Republican objections, and how to rebuild sliding public support for the bill.

Asked on ABC's "This Week" whether Democrats would have the votes to pass the bill in the House, Ms. Pelosi (D., Calif.) offered a one-word "Yes." She said Democrats in both chambers were working out details.

The health-care bill stalled in Congress after Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts race to replace the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy. It cost the Democrats their 60-vote supermajority and their ability to block Republican filibusters.

Republicans warned Sunday that Democrats were trying to force an unpopular measure that would hurt them in the midterm elections.

"If Speaker Pelosi rams through this bill through the House using the reconciliation process, they will lose their majority in Congress in November," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R., Va.) said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Democrats said that while certain polls show opposition to the legislation, the public supports individual components of it. "I think when you talk to the American people about whether it's fair for them to get knocked off their coverage when they get sick, I think they agree that no, we need some common-sense rules to help regulate that market," White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle told NBC's "Meet the Press."

Ms. Pelosi acknowledged the political risks on ABC. Democrats "know that this will take courage," she said. "Why are we here? We're not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress. We're here to do the job for the American people."

Democrats control the House by a 255-178 margin with two vacancies. On CNN, Ms. Pelosi predicted Democrats will retain their majority in November.

The math for passing the health bill is tight. With the vacancies, Democrats need 217 votes to pass a bill in the House. The House passed an earlier version of the health overhaul by a 220-215 margin in November.

Some "yes" voters have indicated they will vote "no" this time. The main obstacles are the Senate bill's more-lenient rules about insurance coverage of abortion and a general unease among centrist Democrats with the scope of the legislation.