Pelosi says health bill will pass within weeks

Healthcare reform legislation will pass out of the House "within weeks," Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday.

According to multiple reports, Pelosi claimed during an appearance in Philadelphia that healthcare reform would pass in the next few weeks, and that it would include the public (or "government-run") option.

"I have said very clearly that no bill can pass the House of Representatives without a public option in it," Pelosi told reporters, reiterating a long-held claim about the political need for a public option in the House.

But the speaker projected that the House would vote on -- and pass -- its health reform bill within the next few weeks, apparently confident that Democrats will be able to resolve differences between centrists and liberals. The former have largely been unwilling to back the public option, while the latter have been insistent on the provision's inclusion.

Pelosi appeared at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia with other congressional Democrats this morning to promote health reform.