WASHINGTON - US PRESIDENT Barack Obama's top Democratic ally in the House of Representatives predicted on Thursday that the Congress will approve a sweeping bill to overhaul US health care this year.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that she would have the 218 votes needed to get the bill through the House in a ballot expected as early as Saturday, and dismissed talk that the Senate may not act on the measure until 2010.

'I don't think that's the case. I think we can do all this before Christmas,' she said when asked how a possible Senate delay would affect the overall effort to achieve Mr Obama's top domestic priority.

Asked whether Democrats, who face internal disputes over whether their plan's cost and whether it would pay for abortions, had the votes, Mrs Pelosi replied: 'We will, we will.'

The speaker also dismissed talk that Democrats should worry about the results of four elections held on Tuesday, which some analysts have read as a warning to swing-vote Democrats wavering on the health care bill.

'Tuesday night, we won two more votes for health care. I'm very proud of that because in both of those campaigns, health care was the issue,' she said, referring to Democrats elected in House races in New York and California. -- AFP