Democrats confident of victory in decisive health care vote

Democrats in the United States House of Representatives have secured the 216 votes necessary to pass President Barack Obama's historic health care overhaul, a top party leader in Congress said on Sunday. But Republicans are threatening to present hundreds of amendments to the bill when it arrives in the Senate, in a sign that Sunday's vote will not be the end of the battle.

Protestors stage a vigil outside the White House in opposition to President Obama's health care legislation. Reuters

"We have the votes. We are going to make history today," Representative John Larson, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told ABC television.

Larson made his remarks as the House prepared for a decisive vote on Obama's plan, after a year of tough debate.

But even if the vote passes, Republicans plan to present "hundreds" of amendments when the bill moves from the House to the Senate, a senior Republican senator said on Sunday.

The aim is "to highlight what is in the bill that is bad and why the American people are right when they say we don't want it," Senator John Cornyn of Texas told Fox News.

In that case, the Senate's presiding officer Vice President Joe Biden will have the option to declare the amendments delaying tactics and call a vote on the bill.

Mid-term elections in November are expected to turn into an unofficial public referendum on the health care reforms, with voters using their ballots to give legislators their verdict on how the House has handled the bill.

The proposed bill would extend health care insurance to nearly all Americans through a blend of expanded government health programs and subsidies for millions to buy private insurance.