At her weekly news conference Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear her commitment to health care reform. "I think we would do almost anything if it meant that we would pass health care for all Americans before the Christmas holidays," she said. "It may be that we can't. That we have to do it for a New Year's present for the American people. But as soon as we can, we will."

But what about the details of the bill that have bedeviled her colleagues in the Senate?

Regarding the public option, Pelosi had once said that she would not be able to pass a bill through the House without a government-run insurance program, but she said Thursday she'll have to see what the Senate does before she makes that same pronouncement again.

"The president has said and the House believes that the public option is the best way to hold the insurance companies honest, keep them honest and also to increase competition,"she said. "When we see something from the Senate, we'll be able to make a judgment about that."

Pelosi was positive about a proposal in the Senate to replace the public option with an expansion of Medicare. "We haven't seen the paper from the Senate," Pelosi said after her press conference in the Capitol. "There is certainly a great deal of appeal about putting people 55 and older on Medicare. That's something people in the House have advocated for years."

Because the House has passed its version of health care reform, an energy bill and most of its appropriations bills, the speaker said she is hoping to wrap up the the House's legislative business next week in time to lead a delegation to the global climate change conference in Copenhagan. "It's a very important meeting," she said. "I hope we'll be able to spend a few days there."