House begins debate on health care legislation

Washington (CNN) - In a special Saturday session, the House of Representatives began debating health care legislation crafted by House Democrats, as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle considered an amendment to the bill that would put restrictions on abortion funding. President Barack Obama made a rare visit to Capitol Hill earlier in the day to meet with members of the House Democratic caucus and push forward proposed the health care measure. But the contentious issue of abortion is threatening to delay Saturday's scheduled vote on the nearly $1.1 trillion bill by the full House of Representatives and possibly push it back to Sunday, according to two Democratic sources. In a late night development, anti-abortion Democrats scored a major victory by persuading Democratic leaders to allow them to offer an amendment during the debate Saturday that would ban most abortion coverage from the public option and other insurance providers in the new so-called "exchange" the legislation would ... (link)