We’re very close” to having enough votes to prevail, said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, although he added a scheduled Saturday vote could slip by a day or two and sought to pin the blame on possible Republican delaying tactics.
“Nice try, Rep. Hoyer, but you can’t blame Republicans when the fact is you just don’t have the votes,” shot back Antonia Ferrier, spokeswoman for the GOP leader, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio.
In a struggle that combined the fate of President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority and a 2010 campaign issue, bipartisanship was not an option.
GOP leaders boasted that all 177 House Republicans stood ready to oppose the $1.2 trillion bill, which would create a new federally supervised insurance marketplace where the uninsured could purchase coverage.

One more thing: Insurance Companies, AARP, Pharmaceutical Companies and the AMA, I have a message for you. You were willing to sell us and our country’s individual freedoms and free markets out to this socialistic, economy sucking, job killing, children enslaving plan. All for a few pieces of silver. We will never forget that. Whatever improvements we come up with to the way health insurance is sold now, we’re pissed and we won’t forget. You’ll get a better, more equitable deal with us, but we will never forget how willing you were to sell out our freedoms for your &%!#@#@@ bottom line.