Hours before an expected vote on a sweeping health care bill, House Democrats believe they’ve secured the 218 votes they need to approve the bill, several party insiders said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took to the House floor about 6:30 p.m. to say, “Today we will pass the Affordable Health Care for America Act.. . .We will make history. We will also make progress for America’s working families."

Thirty-two Democrats have publicly declared their opposition to the bill, giving party leaders the narrowest possible margin to push the bill across the finish line. But numerous sources said Democrats believe they do have the votes after a day of intense lobbying of wavering Democrats.

Votes have a tendency to shift in the final hours before a controversial vote, but party leaders were expressing more genuine confidence as the sun set over the Capitol than they had exhibited all week. Word started spreading around 5 p.m. that leaders had the votes they needed to pass the $1.2 trillion bill.

Pelosi had all-but-predicted passage of a House health reform bill earlier Saturday, following an emotional appeal from President Barack Obama to fellow Democrats urging them to “answer the call of history” and vote yes.

But she and her top lieutenants earlier stopped short of saying they had the 218 votes needed for passage – signaling a day of vote-wrangling and arm-twisting that could stretch into Saturday night.

And Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami declined to comment. “We are not commenting on whip counts,” Elshami said.

The stakes for Obama and Pelosi are high – and Obama has made health care his signature legislative priority this year. But Democrats have been skittish of backing the $1.2 trillion measure after Tuesday’s Democratic election washout and Friday’s 10-percent-plus unemployment rate. Obama made an appeal to history, comparing health reform to landmark legislation like Social Security and Medicare.

“Now’s the time to finish the job,” Obama said in the Rose Garden, following a 30-minute closed-door meeting with the House Democratic caucus on Capitol Hill.

“I reminded them that opportunities like this come around maybe once in a generation,” Obama said. “This is their moment, this is our moment, to live up to the trust that the American people have placed in us — even when it’s hard; especially when it’s hard. This is our moment to deliver.”

Obama left the Hill without addressing reporters, but Pelosi took to the microphones after he left sounding confident of passage. "Today we will make not only history, but progress for America’s working families," she said. 

In his last-minute appeal in the Cannon House Office Building, Obama steered clear of legislative details to focus on the historic impact of the vote, comparing this reform push to the establishment of Social Security and Medicare – and reminding Democrats that both were criticized by those who predicted they would eventually lead to the country’s collapse.

Obama also reminded them that voting no on the health care bill wouldn’t insulate them from Republican attacks anyway.

“Are we going to stop now, or push forward?” Obama asked.

“Push forward,” a dozen or so Democrats shouted back.

Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) said he thought Obama may have shifted some undecided Democrats into the "yes" column. "I think there were a number of folks in there moved by what [Obama] said, no question about it," Crowley said.

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