The long, turbulent struggle over health care legislation has tilted in President Barack Obama's favour as undecided Democratic politicians begin choosing sides.
In full campaign mode, his voice rising, the president all but claimed victory on Friday, declaring to a cheering audience in Virginia: "We are going to fix health care in America."
With the showdown vote set for Sunday in the House of Representatives, Obama decided to make one final, personal appeal to rank-and-file Democrats, arranging a visit to the Capitol.
Obama has put his presidency on the line to gain passage of his top domestic priority in the face of unanimous opposition from Republicans who say the plan amounts to a government takeover of health care that will lead to higher deficits and taxes.
The health care reform programme would affect nearly every American. For the first time Americans would be required to have health care insurance and face penalties if they refused. The United States is the only major industrialised country that does not have a comprehensive national health care plan.
Billions of dollars would be set aside for subsidies to help families at incomes of up to 88,000 dollars (£58,600) a year afford the cost.
Congressional leaders worked late into the night attempting to resolve the dispute over abortion. Republican Bart Stupak, who succeeded last November in inserting strict anti-abortion language into the House bill, hoped to do so again. That prospect angered politicians who support abortion rights.
Under a complex and controversial procedure Democrats have devised, a single vote will probably be held in the House to endorse a Bill approved by the Senate last year as well as a second measure with a package of fixes agreed in negotiations with the White House.
The Senate would then use a procedure called reconciliation to pass the fix-it measure that requires only a simple majority of 51 in the 100-member body, avoiding Republican delaying tactics.
One day after House Democrats released 153 pages of revisions to their Bill, Democratic leaders were scrambling to gather the 216 votes they needed for passage, so every undecided politician was the focus of personal attention from the leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the White House.
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