Upcoming: The Most Important Vote on Health Care

The House is scheduled to vote on the Senate's health care bill today.  They need 216 votes to pass it -- according to the NY Times, as of Noon Eastern these 15 Representatives are still undecided and 6 of them need to vote yes.  President Obama yesterday met with House Democrats to rally the troops, saying “Every once in a while a moment comes where you have a chance to vindicate all those best hopes that you had about yourself, about this country.  This is one of those moments.”

The plan is for the House to pass the Senate version of the bill along with a set of changes that would have to be passed by the Senate through what's known as budget reconcilliation -- a process that only requires 51 votes.  It's widely expected that zero Republicans will vote for the measures, and so far the Democrats most unwilling to commit to a yes vote are those who originally voted for the so-called Stupak amendment (named after Bart Stupak from Michigan), designed to limit abortion funding.

It's been a long, tough road for Democrats, and today may be the most important day for the legacies of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi and the electoral chances of a few dozen Democrats in Congress.

Update: In a 4pm press conference, Bart Stupak announced that he and a few others have agreed to vote for the bill on the condition that Obama issue an executive order prohibiting the usage of public funds for abortions -- this all but guarantees that the bill will pass at some point today.  You can follow all the action here