Gibbs: Healthcare will pass within week

WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- White House press secretary Robert Gibbs predicted Sunday the U.S. House would pass the Senate healthcare bill.

"There's growing momentum in Congress that we can't do nothing, that what happens if we walk away from reform right now is what has happened to millions of Americans who are getting letters from their health insurance companies that their health insurance premiums are skyrocketing," Gibbs told "Fox News Sunday."

"We'll have the votes when the House votes, I think, within the next week," he said.

Next Sunday, he predicted, news show interviewers "will be talking about healthcare reform not as a presidential proposal but as something that will soon be the law of the land."

Gibbs said he was confident the healthcare bill, with 211 House members pledging to vote it so far, would get the five additional votes to reach the 216 needed.

"Once it passes, we're happy to have the 2010 elections be about the achievement of healthcare reform," he said.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., also appearing on the Fox show, expressed confidence the bill would get the votes needed for passage.

"The votes will be there, because what's happening is our members are going back home to their constituents, who are opening up their mail and getting these huge increases in their insurance premiums," Van Hollen said.

"And they recognize that doing nothing is not an option. Small businesses recognize that. Big businesses recognize that. So the momentum has been clearly building. And when this vote comes, I'm confident there will be a majority."