After months of debate, the House of Representatives is set to vote on major health care reform legislation today. Keep updating this page for breaking news updates, read the overview AP coverage HERE, and follow live streaming video of the fierce House debate and Twitter updates HERE.
Democratic aides: We've got the votes. "Today we will pass the Affordable Health Care for America Act," Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the House floor Saturday evening. Politico is reporting that Democrats have at least the 218 votes needed to pass the bill. Four Democratic aides tell HuffPost the same thing.
Kristie Greco, a spokeswoman for Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), declined to confirm the number.
The news that Pelosi has the votes can have unpredictable effects on undecided members. Some members, seeing the bill passing, may want to pile on and get on the side of history. Others react by thinking that they can now oppose it, look tough at home, but not jeopardize passage. Toward that end, watch for a handful of no votes to dribble out from Dems over the next hour or so.
A note of caution: Republicans are still allowed a parliamentary procedure known as a "motion to recommit." Within that motion, they could include any sort of mischief they see fit: conventional wisdom is that the motion will include some language concerning illegal immigration, but if any decision has been made, aides are being mum about it. Depending on whether it passes and how it impacts the bill, it could sway a vote or two on final passage, but it's unlikely, because the motion can be ignored as the House and Senate work to merge their bills later in the legislative process.
A Dem aide guessed that 9:30 PM ET was looking like a rough approximation of the time for a final vote.
