House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has said Democrats may have to
delay a health care vote scheduled for Saturday until Sunday or
early next week, according to the
Associated Press, because they don't yet have the 218 votes
needed to pass the bill.
Eric Cantor, the House Minority Whip, has said that he's
confident that no Republican would vote for the bill, meaning
that Democrats cannot lose more than 40 votes. When "cap and
trade" passed the House in June, 44 Democrats voted against it,
but the leadership made up for it by the defections of 8
Republicans.