Pelosi: We'll Take "as Long as it Takes" to Pass Health Care Bill

House speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Friday that "we'll take whatever time is required for us to pass" health care legislation.

"We stand ready to stay as long as it takes to pass a bill," she said.

Pelosi sent somewhat mixed messages, however, stating that "I'm delighted that the president will be here for the passage of the bill, it's going to be historic."

The White House announced Friday morning that President Obama will delay his trip to Asia, which had been scheduled for March 18th, to March 21st. The White House had been pressing for health care legislation by the 18th, and the delay was an acknowledgment that deadline would not be met.

Asked to clarify her comments, Pelosi said she is "hoping" the bill will be passed within a timeframe that allows the president to be in America for its passage. She suggested the process has been delayed as lawmakers wait for the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office to score provisions in the budget reconciliation bill.

(The CBO did release an updated analysis of the Senate version of the bill Thursday that found it would reduce the federal deficit by "$118 billion over the 2010-2019 period.")

The president's change of schedule "increases the prospect that he will be here, since he will be here three more days," Pelosi told reporters.

Pelosi also said that the so-called "public option" would not be in the final version of the bill, despite the fact that she has supported a "single payer" option, she said, since longer than many of the reporters in the room had been alive.

Sen. Dick Durbin has vowed to "aggressively" push for votes in the Senate to pass a bill with the public option if Pelosi includes it in the House reconciliation bill. More than 40 senators have said they support a public option.

"What we will have in reconciliation will be something that is agreed upon, House and Senate, that we can pass and they can pass," she said.

The public option isn't in the bill, Pelosi added, because the Senate doesn't "have the votes to have it in there or they would have had it in there to begin with."