US President Barack Obama pressed Congress yesterday to hold a final vote in the next few weeks on his historic health care overhaul, with or without support from his Republican foes.

"I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform. We have debated this issue thoroughly, not just for the past year, but for decades," he said. "Let's get it done."

Mr Obama, bruised by a year of political warfare over his top domestic goal, bluntly rejected Republican demands to scrap the ambitious plan and start over and endorsed passing the plan with "nothing more than a simple majority."

"I therefore ask leaders in both houses of Congress to finish their work and schedule the vote in the next few weeks," the President said in a speech in the White House's ornate East Room.

Democratic congressional aides have said they hope to pass a final Bill before the start of a two-week Easter recess at the end of the day on March 26, enabling lawmakers to focus more on the sour US jobs picture in the months ahead of November mid-term elections to decide control of Congress.

Acknowledging Democratic ner-ves about the controversial bill's possible impact on the elections, Mr Obama declared "we can't just give up because the politics are hard" and said the fight was "about what kind of country we want to be."

"I do not know how this plays politically, but I know it's right," said Mr Obama, who has wagered the fate of his still-young presidency on what would be the most far-reaching overhaul of its kind in some 45 years.

Mr Obama's remarks came after he hosted an unusual day-long health care "summit" with key Republicans last week, and held out an 11th-hour olive branch to his critics in a letter offering to include four of their main ideas.

"The sales pitch may be new, but the bill isn't," Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell responded, while the number two Republican in the House, Representative Eric Cantor, declared: "It isn't bipartisanship - it's political cover."

The blueprint still faces an uphill road, with Republicans united against it, and Democrats struggling to rally fragile majorities amid lingering internal feuds over abortion funding and immigrant access to health care.

Democrats led the Senate and House of Representatives to pass rival versions of the overhaul in 2009, and were on the road to melding them into a compromise Bill when the party lost its 60-vote Senate supermajority in a shock January election that boosted Republicans to 41 seats in the 100-member Senate.

With Republicans suddenly em-powered to stall the legislation indefinitely, the president's allies were expected to rely on an infrequently used parliamentary tactic called "reconciliation" that requires a simple majority.