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Hillary Clinton Predicts US House Will Pass Health-Care Bill

By Kristina Peterson, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predicted Friday that the House of Representatives will pass a comprehensive health care bill this weekend.

"I think we're going to win a major part of that fight," said Clinton, who led a failed attempt to overhaul health care in the early 1990s. "I can't tell you how excited I am that for the first time in history the House is poised to pass comprehensive health-care reform."

The House is expected to vote Saturday or Sunday on a health-care bill.

Clinton spoke Friday at a conference hosted by NoLimits.org, a non-profit, nonpartisan group founded by Clinton supporter Ann Lewis earlier this year after the primary presidential campaign ended.

Clinton said she is focusing on improving the rights of women and children and reducing the levels of malnourishment and hunger around the world.

She leaves Saturday for Berlin, where she will represent the U.S. to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

"That event 20 years ago was the end of an era and as dangerous as the times were, it was easier to explain," Clinton said. "It was us versus them."

Foreign diplomacy now requires more complex judgments, she said.

Clinton will also travel to Singapore, China and the Philippines next week.

- By Kristina Peterson, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6619; kristina.peterson@ dowjones.com

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  11-06-091358ET
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