STEUBENVILLE - U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, D-Ohio, said Friday that would vote in favor of health care reform when the final vote on the measure comes before the House, which is anticipated on Sunday.

Wilson said today he had reviewed the Congressional Budget Office score and the final reconciliation bill language released Thursday afternoon. He said the CBO report showed the bill will reduce the budget deficit by $138 billion over a 10-year period, then by $1.2 trillion during the next 10 years.

"This bill is not perfect, but it is a strong step forward," Wilson said. "I have seen the CBO score and the reconciliation changes for myself. This bill will not add a dime to the deficit. I am confident that the Senate bill will be amended by the reconciliation language and that special deals for certain states, like Nebraska, have been taken out; that affordability for middle-class families has been improved; and that the harmful excise tax on high-cost health plans has been adjusted.

"For these reasons and for the benefits that this bill will bring to my constituents, I will support the Senate bill with the announced reconciliation changes," he said.

The vote can be taken after the full text of the bill has been available for 72 hours. It was released Thursday. A link to the bill is available from Wilson's Web site, www.charliewilson.house.gov .

Wilson's office said the House Energy & Commerce Committee reports that the district will see better coverage for 365,000 residents who already have health insurance, tax credits and assistance for up to 174,000 families and 11,300 small businesses to help them afford coverage, improve Medicare for 116,000 beneficiaries and extend coverage to more than 40,000 uninsured residents, among other benefits.

In addition, the system would reduce uncompensated care costs to hospitals and other health care providers by $49 million a year and provide millions of dollars for 15 community health centers in the district.

"I think these numbers are very encouraging," Wilson said. "I always vote my district. When looking at these number, it's obvious that the benefits to our area will be tremendous."

During a national teleconference Thursday afternoon, Wilson said he's comfortable that the prohibitions on abortion in the Senate bill that now is the basis for the final measure moving through the House meet his standards as a pro-life Catholic.

The teleconference was held by a group called Faith in Public Life and included Wilson; U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Michigan; Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the liberal Catholic social justice lobbyist group NETWORK; Morna Murray, president of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a lay group that seeks to spread awareness of Catholic teaching on social justice; Francis Xavier Doyle, former associate general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Timothy S. Jost of Washington and Lee Law School; and Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action.

Wilson agreed with the position of those on the call that, although the Senate bill does not specifically include reference to the 1976 Hyde amendment, which prohibits federal spending on abortion except in cases of rape, incest or a threat of the health of the mother, the prohibition on abortion spending is enough.

"As Congress has debated comprehensive health care, I have maintained my pro-life stance. I am opposed to abortion. The language clearly ensures there is no federal funding for abortion," Wilson said. "Meanwhile, 45,000 Americans die, one American every 12 minutes, in part because of a lack of health insurance and access to quality care. We must value these lives as well."

"There are 40,000 people who do not have coverage who would be covered (in the 6th Congressional District). There are 9,300 seniors who would have less expensive prescription drugs. There are people with children who have graduated college and cannot find jobs who will benefit from their children being able to stay on their insurance until age 27. It all helps in an Appalachian area like I represent," Wilson said.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has singled out Jost's views on the subject as being wrong and has said the bill costs too much.

Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of the Catholic Diocese of Steubenville said Friday, "The U.S. bishops strongly support comprehensive health care reform, especially one that benefits those people who have no access to health care. But legislation that actually or potentially allocates our tax dollars for the destruction of innocent human beings is neither reform nor health care. Our nation can have a good health care program without creating any additional risk to children in the womb."

Jost said on the call that because of the procedures used in Congress, the clear amendment to prohibit abortion funding proposed by U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Michigan, in the House late last year is no longer in play. It's the Senate bill or the status quo, he said.

Jost explained that the bill includes $9.5 billion in additional funding for community health centers, which already are prohibited in their regulations from using federal money for abortions by the Hyde amendment. Further, he said, the money will be provided through the Department of Health and Human Services budget and won't be in a separate pool of money, so the money will follow the explicit restrictions on abortion funding already covering the DHHS through the Hyde amendment.

"Community health centers never have provided abortions, and they are not going to now," Jost said.

The Catholic bishops conference disagrees, seeing the legislation as including language that forms a separate pot of money that would be required to fund abortion on demand if requested.