Washington - -Democratic leaders scrambled Friday to secure enough votes to push major health care legislation through the House this weekend, but opposition from a growing number of Democrats, including Rep. Frank Kratovil of Maryland, raised new questions about the measure's prospects.
Kratovil, a freshman Democrat from the Eastern Shore, ended months of uncertainty by announcing that he would vote against the House plan, which would extend health insurance to an estimated 36 million Americans who lack coverage. The Marylander, among the most vulnerable House members in the country in next year's election, has long been skeptical of his party's proposal but had left open the possibility of supporting it.
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said the leadership did not yet have the votes to pass the overhaul plan. No House Republicans are expected to support the Democratic measure, which means that Democrats cannot afford to lose more than 40 of their 258 members on the final vote.
Hoyer told reporters Friday morning that he still expected the vote to take place tonight, as planned. However, he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California indicated that the vote could be delayed until next week.
President Barack Obama is expected to pay a visit to Capitol Hill today to rally his party's representatives on the measure, which he strongly supports. But it was possible that House leaders might make an 11th-hour decision to postpone a vote to spare him - and themselves - embarrassment if they are not assured of the votes needed to prevail.
In an interview, Kratovil said he could not overcome his strong doubts about the overall cost of the plan and its likely impact on the federal deficit. He said he could support a different version of the legislation, though not the current Republican alternative.
Kratovil said the $1 trillion House Democratic plan does not adequately control costs, especially in the Medicare program, and as a result "is going to increase the deficit substantially" over the long term.
Kratovil, who represents the Eastern Shore and parts of Baltimore, Harford and Anne Arundel counties, is close to Hoyer of Southern Maryland. He said he talked to Hoyer after notifying the leadership through regular vote-counting channels about his decision.
"As far as I know, he took it OK," Kratovil said.
