A moment in the spotlight, welcome or not, for the handful of Democrats who will decide health care

Democrats stressed the immediate and long-term benefits that the bill would create for Americans, pressing hard on the emotional appeal of sick and needy persons in immediate need.

Pelosi appeared at an afternoon press conference with four ordinary citizens – a small business owner from North Carolina, a breast cancer survivor from North Carolina, a senior citizen from Washington, D.C., and a woman with rheumatoid arthritis from Illinois – to illustrate the people the bill will help immediately.

“Their personal stories tell the eloquent stories of why health care is needed,” Pelosi said.

Republicans focused on cost, arguing that the bill includes $644 billion in tax increases. But they also devoted much of their energy Thursday to maligning Democrats for the process they may use to pass the legislation.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor staged a dramatic reading on the House floor, with a majority of lawmakers in the chamber, blasting the Democrats for considering the use of a procedure known as the “Slaughter solution,” which would allow them to pass the Senate bill without directly voting on it.

The procedure is a political measure aimed at providing cover for liberal Democrats worried, like Lynch, about the ability and willingness of the Senate to change the bill into the form the House desires. But Republicans have used it to paint Democrats as trying to pass an unpopular piece of legislation through deceptive means.

Cantor’s resolution, which was voted down, accused Democratic leaders of a “malfeasant” attempt to “fraudulently insulate certain representatives from accountability for their conduct of their office.”

As Republicans focused much of their firepower on this issue over the last few days, Democrats exulted that Republicans are talking about process, which they say does not matter to average Americans.

“‘So what,’ says the American public,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, on Tuesday. “What they’re interested in: ‘What resulted? What did you do for me and my family to make my life more secure, better, of greater quality?’”

Rep. David Drier, California Republican and ranking member of the House Rules Committee, said that “never before has there been the kind of focus on process that we have seen.”

“Process is substance, and the American people get it,” he said.

*This story originally did not include Arcuri’s decision and said Pelosi had gained a vote.