Get ready for a Sunday vote. The CBO's preliminary analysis of the health bill with reconciliation changes is that it will cover more people and save more money than the underlying Senate bill.
"It took some time but we are very pleased," Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters. "There are even more savings than the Senate bill."
If approved by the House this Sunday and soon after by the Senate (where Republicans are threatening to strangle it to death procedurally -- but also vowing to repeat it after it passes, a mixed message which suggests that maybe they aren't so confident of their bill-strangling skills after all) the historic health care bill would cover 32 million Americans at the end of the decade. That means 95 percent of the population would be covered (excluding undocumented aliens -- the figure drops to 92 percent if the undocumented are included).
It would cost $940 billion -- under the $950 billion 10-year figure that President Obama had set as a target. And it would all be paid for. In fact, it reduces the deficit by $138 billion over the decade -- and the savings intensify the following 10 years.
The deficit-trimming provisions may help Pelosi sway some undecided Blue Dogs. And if she needs any help wooing those last few votes -- President Obama is postponing his Asia trip. To stick around and do some wooing. And maybe to make, and witness, history.
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