WASHINGTON – Democratic leaders are unveiling what is expected to be their final health care bill Thursday, setting the stage for a Sunday vote on a plan that would affect most Americans and has become the defining issue in Barack Obama’s presidency.
Leaving nothing to chance, the White House announced that Obama has put off his planned trip to Asia for a second time, delaying it until June. Obama was to have left Sunday.
Said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “He wants to be here for the history.”
The plan would cost $940 billion over 10 years and extend coverage to 32 million Americans who are uninsured, while reducing the federal deficit by $138 billion over 10 years, the impartial Congressional Budget Office said, and continue to drive down red ink thereafter.
Democratic leaders said the deficit would be cut $1.2 trillion in the second decade.