WASHINGTON — The House’s chief Democratic head counter said Sunday that he hadn’t rounded up enough votes to pass President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul heading into a make-or-break week, even as the White House’s top political adviser said he was “absolutely confident” in its prospects.
The administration gave signs of retreating on its demands that senators jettison special home-state deals sought by individual lawmakers that have angered the public.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs predicted House passage this week, before Obama travels to Asia, a trip he postponed to push for the bill.
“This is the week where we will have this important vote,” Gibbs said.
The House GOP leader, Ohio Rep. John Boehner, acknowledged Republicans alone can’t stop the measure but pledged to do “everything we can to make it difficult for them, if not impossible, to pass the bill.”
A dose of reality came from Rep. James Clyburn, the third- ranking House Democrat and main vote counter.
“No, we don’t have them as of this morning, but we’ve been working this thing all weekend,” said Clyburn, D-S.C. Clyburn said he was confident the measure would pass.
Political strategist David Axelrod indicated the White House was backing down on an attempt to get senators to rid the legislation of a number of lawmakers’ special deals.
Taking a new position, he said the White House objects only to state-specific arrangements, such as an increase in Medicaid funding for Nebraska. That’s being cut, but provisions that could affect more than one state are OK, Axelrod said.
Trying to increase public pressure on Congress to pass the legislation, Obama planned to travel today to Strongsville, Ohio, home of cancer patient Natoma Canfield, who wrote the president that she gave up her health-insurance premium after it rose to $8,500 a year. Canfield is a self-employed cleaning worker who lives in the Cleveland suburb.
Gibbs said she had to decide between keeping her health insurance or her house and chose to keep her house.
Axelrod was on ABC’s “This Week,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CNN’s “State of the Union.” Gibbs appeared on “Fox News Sunday” and CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Clyburn was on NBC and Boehner on CNN.
