Obama Tells Democrats, 'It Is In Your Hands'

President Obama traveled to Capitol Hill on the eve of the historic House vote on health care reform to urge Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House to join him in passing what he called the most important piece of domestic legislation since the enactment of Medicare in 1965.

The president walked onto the stage to the extended applause of the House Democratic Caucus, whose members stood and cheered his arrival. "We're a day away," he said, thanking them for their efforts to pass the bill.

Obama reiterated the benefits of the legislation set for a House vote on Sunday, including its prohibition on insurance companies dropping or denying coverage for people with pre-existing conditions; its new health insurance exchanges for individuals to shop for affordable coverage; and its mechanism to subsidize Americans who cannot afford to purchase coverage on their own. He also called the bill one of the largest deficit reduction measures in American history and said it "runs straight down the center of American political thought."

He acknowledged that it falls short in many people's eyes, including his own, but he called it a vast improvement over the status quo. "There are some who wanted a single-payer, government-run system, that's not this bill." he said. "The Republicans wanted what I call the fox is guarding the hen house approach."

Overall, he said, the legislation will help those Americans who desperately need it, including the vulnerable, those down on their luck, and people living their own "quiet crises" because they lack health insurance.

With concern that Democrats could be just shy of securing the 216 votes needed to pass the bill, the president praised individual House members who announced in the last days that they would vote for the bill, and said he knew the politics voting for it will be difficult for some.

"If you honestly believe this is not an improvement of the status quo....if you think the system is working for ordinary Americans and not the insurance companies, then you should vote no," he said bluntly to the remaining undecided members.

But he also reminded them of President Abraham Lincoln's famous quote, "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true," and compared today's lawmakers to those who faced difficult political votes to support the Civil Rights Act, and to create Social Security and Medicare. "I know what a tough vote it is," he said.

Ultimately, he told the Democrats, the passage of health care reform will come down to the people assembled in that caucus room.

"We have been debating health care for decades. It is in your hands," he said. "It is time to pass health care reform for America and I am confident you are going to do it tomorrow."

Before the president spoke, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid praised Obama and his efforts to pass the bill, and announced that the Senate is ready to pass the reconciliation package that comes over from the House.

"I am happy to report that I have a commitment from a significant majority of the United States Senate to make that good law even better," he said.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) thanked Reid and the president, and called this a seminal moment in American history after decades of failed attempts to pass health care reform.

"On Sunday, tomorrow, we will do it," Hoyer said.