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[NYCGuy]

"The US House on Sunday took the most critical step yet toward adoption of legislation to overhaul the nation’s health care system and guarantee access to medical insurance for tens of millions of Americans, all but assuring a hard-fought but politically risky victory for President Obama and his party.

By a vote of 224-206, the House approved the key procedural measure necessary to pass the legislation, showing that Democrats and Mr. Obama had succeeded in cobbling together the votes they need to achieve a goal sought by presidents and progressives for more than a half-century.

The action came after a year of intense partisan combat, weeks of legislative brinksmanship and a last round of procedural roadblocks thrown up by Republicans, with the White House and Congressional leaders scrambling in the hours leading up to the vote to win over enough wavering Democrats to assure passage.

The last outstanding challenge was finding a way to allay the concerns of Democrats who feared the bill would allow the use of federal money to pay for abortion or for insurance covering the procedure. House Democrats clinched their victory on Sunday with an agreement on abortion. Democratic opponents of abortion rights, led by Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan, announced that they would vote for the legislation after Mr. Obama promised to issue an executive order “to ensure that federal funds are not used for abortion services” if the bill passed."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/health/p...lth.html?src=me