In mid-May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sunk to the lowest ebb of her speakership. Pelosi conducted a calamitous May 14 press conference where she claimed the CIA lied to her about interrogation methods. The media and Republicans carped about this for weeks.

Forty-four days later, Pelosi soared to her zenith. 

The House Friday night approved a sweeping and controversial climate change and energy bill. It’s a measure that Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) proclaimed “was unachievable six months ago.” Pelosi rolled the dice and brought the bill to the floor, forcing what would produce the toughest vote in the House to date this year.

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Filibusters are not allowed in the House. They're a province of the Senate. But House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) may have figured out a way to get around that prohibition Friday as the House inched closer to voting on a controversial energy and climate change bill.

Overnight, House Democrats tacked onto the bill a 300-page amendment. So when Boehner took his time to speak against the package at the end of the debate, the Ohio Republican then decided to peel through major portions of the bill and read them aloud before his House colleagues.

Historically, rank-and-file lawmakers are only given a few minutes to speak on the House floor. But the Speaker, Majority Leader and Minority Leader are given great latitude to speak when they approach the microphones.

After Boehner spoke for a few minutes, the leader donned a pair of reading glasses and began leafing through a gigantic, white binder. At that point, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) asked the chair if Boehner could do that.

“I know we have this magic minute that gives leaders a lot of extra time to speak. But I'm just wondering if there is some limit under the rules on the time that a leader may take, even though the time yielded was not 20 or 30 minutes?” Waxman asked.

Waxman also wondered if any "historical records would be broken" by Boehner reading part of the bill and queried whether the tactic was “an attempt to try to get some people to leave on a close vote?”

The Speaker Pro Tempore, Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) then ruled that Boehner was order.

“It is the custom of the house is to listen to the leader's comments,” Tauscher said, prompting a round of applause by Republicans.

Tauscher's ruling immediately set House precedent, meaning Boehner could continue to read the legislation in order. Democrats, at least for the time being, watched and listened as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) conferred near the back of the chamber.

"Is there anything we aren't regulating in this bill?" Boehner asked, leafing through the pages. He wondered if the community group ACORN qualified for certain grants. He asked why an energy and climate bill was "trying to solve the problems with Fannie (Mae) and Freddie (Mac)."

Incidentally, this may be Tauscher's final time presiding over the House. The Senate just confirmed her to be the Undersecretary for Arms Control at the State Department.

- FOX’s John Brandt contributed to this report.

In February, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), suffering from brain cancer, rallied to return to the Senate and cast a decisive vote to help clear the way for President Obama's stimulus package.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) gave cross signals Friday afternoon as to whether or not he had enough votes to pass a major climate change and energy bill.

"We aren't there yet," said Clyburn, the chief Democratic vote counter.

But a few minutes later, Clyburn announced that he had "218-217 votes."

If that's the case, Clyburn would be precisely on the threshold of the number of necessary votes required to approve the measure. There are currently 434 members in the House with one vacancy.

With all members voting, 218 votes would be enough. 217 would be a tie. All tie votes in the House lose.

"I'm as optimistic about this as I was on the budget," Clyburn said, noting he scored 233 votes for that package.

Still, Clyburn left lingering doubts about the vote count.

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," Clyburn said. "That's what we did with the TARP."

"TARP" is the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program which Congress adopted last fall. The first vote failed in the House and the stock market tanked in synchronicity with the vote.

The Senate then adopted the bill. A few days later, the House approved the program.

Many moderate and even some liberal Democrats are concerned about the bill. Moderates worry about how the bill could drive up the cost of energy bill. Liberals argue the environmental controls aren't strict enough.

Republicans seemed to be giddy at the Democrats consternation.

"Either way, it's a win-win for us," said a senior Republican aide. "Either she (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) doesn't have the votes and she has egg on her face or it passes and we let our friends across the street do their job."

The "friends across the street" line refers to the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee (NRCC). It's prepping to firebomb moderate and conservative Democrats from swing districts who back the bill with TV ads and attack campaigns.

A final vote is expected late Friday afternoon.

FOX has learned that former Vice President Al Gore will meet wth House Democrats Thursday at the Capitol to appeal to reluctant lawmakers to approve the controversial climate change bill on Friday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is rolling the dice with her plan to lug the bill to the House floor without the full confidence that the legislation will pass.

Senior Democratic leaders are whipping and cajoling skeptical lawmakers to side with them to approve the measure that could have significant economic impact on the energy bills of many Americans and even drive up the price of food.

Gore is well-known for his environmental views. He's authored books on climate change and produced the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" in 2006.

House Democrats plan to meet with Gore at 1 pm Thursday in the Capitol.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius just wrapped up a 90-minute meeting with a key group of Senate Democrats from leadership and committees working on health care reform.

Sen Harry Reid, D-NV, invited the duo to come for a discussion on health care, as two committees slog through the process of crafting a bipartisan overhaul of the nation's health care system.

Rahm, who said he went around the room hearing from members, bolted from the room and added that he would "communicate (the concerns) to the White House and the President."

"This was not a crunch time, decision-making meeting. We're all singing from the same hymnal," said Sen Chuck Schumer, R-NY.

Sen. Finance Cmte Chairman Max Baucus, D-MT, trying to craft a bipartisan compromise, said, "Rahm said he wants a bipartisan bill." Baucus said the meeting was "for the President's Chief of Staff to hear our concerns. It was very, very good.".

As Democrats have their own internal disagreements, Baucus called today's meeting "a necessary step."

Sen Kent Conrad, D-ND, who is working with a handful of Republicans and Democrats to craft a compromise, heaped effusive praise on the meeting, calling today's gathering "one of the most productive meetings yet."

Conrad said, "I feel the best I have felt in the entire process....We're going to succeed. We're going to make this happen. And the President is going to help."

Senators are making progress on health care reform behind the scenes with one key committee beginning to make progress on the stickiest of problems, getting the cost of a bill under control, though challenges remain. The Finance Committee, where a bipartisan product is being crafted, has found $400 billion in additional savings this week, bringing the total bill "in the range of $1.2 trillion," according to Sen. Kent Conrad, D-ND.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which tallies the cost of legislation for members, has been working with the committee for some time, throwing a wrench into the gears just last week with an exceedingly high price tag that sent members back to the drawing board on a number of issues. Conrad said that CBO estimates that the bill will now cover 96 percent of Americans with a coverage comparable to that of Medicare.

"I am increasingly confident that we will get a bipartisan bill...We're still not there yet," Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-MT, adding, "We're getting much closer." The chairman has set a goal of getting the final price tag under $1 trillion.

But not everyone agrees that things are going so well.

One key negotiator in a smaller, bipartisan committee group, referred to by Baucus as "the coalition of the willing, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UT, was more sanguine with reporters, saying, "I don't think we're anywhere near a bipartisan consensus." When asked if the committee could produce a bill by week's end, Hatch said, "Oh no. It's going to take time."

Democrats continue to wrestle, however, with whether or not they can muster up enough support for a full-blown government plan.

The system of cooperatives proposed by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-ND, as a compromise has gotten beaten up by some members of his party this week.

Conrad has said the coop plan could be set up by the federal government and be nonprofit and national in scope. The moderate Democrat, himself the Budget Committee chairman, has said his goal has been "to get 60 votes," noting that a handful of his more moderate colleagues do not favor a public option.

"The co-op proposal is alive and well. Negotiations are ongoing, and those negotiations are continuing at a high level of intensity," Conrad said. The senator said, "We're not there yet, but we've made significant progress."

This defense follows criticism earlier in the week by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, a member of the Finance Committee and Senate leadership, who declared that efforts to get Republicans to agree to a co-op plan were largely unsuccessful.

"Right now, this co-op idea doesn't come close to satisfying anyone who wants a public plan," Schumer told AP on Sunday. And in a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer made the case for government-run health care, asking Republicans, "The public plan is not about government-controlled health care, socialism or any of the buzzwords that have been tossed around as part of this debate. I ask my colleagues, do they consider medicare socialist?"

Answering critics, largely Republican, who have said any government-run plan would put the feds in between the patient and their doctor and lead to single-payer insurance system, Schumer said any public option "may not have special built-in advantages," adding, "It would be a coverage option that would compete on an equal footing alongside private insurance plans in the market for individual and small business coverage. If a level playing field exists, then private insurers will have to compete based on quality of care and pricing instead of just competing for the healthiest consumers."

The public plan could turn up in legislation as a "fallback" option.

Moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-ME, said she is working on just such a plan with Schumer, in fact, saying it would be"guaranteed access to coverage," that would ensure that if reforms enacted by Congress do not work in certain areas that there is "an assurance of a guaranteed safety net for those who do not have coverage."

This is known as a "trigger," though most members do not like to call it such, as Democrats are trying to work a public option into their legislation.

Schumer suggested earlier this week that perhaps Democrats should just go it alone, a reference to Democratic leaders possibly using an arcane budgetary tactic available to the Majority that allows a bill to be passed with just 51 votes, immune to filibuster.

But it is not that easy. Conrad, a budget expert, said Democrats would not be pleased with what they get under the tactic, called "reconciliation." The chairman said he had consulted with the Senate Parliamentarian, the Senate's expert on rules and procedures, and that any legislation rammed through under reconciliation would look "like swiss cheese."

"Could you do it under reconciliation? Yes you could, but there are very significant problems with that," Conrad said, noting that any plan created using the tactic would have to be paid for in five years and every year thereafter that the plan is in existence. Senators are having a hard enough time finding a way to pay for the plan over 10 years.

When asked if Democrats would not get the plan they want by using reconciliation, Conrad answered, "I think that is exactly right. I think people would be very disappointed in what kind of health reform package became law."

Schumer, meanwhile, said Republicans have not "been willing to negotiate. And so I'm losing confidence that Senate Republicans will ever agree to the types of changes to a co-op to make it a viable alternative, a viable substitute to a traditional public plan that is nationwide and available to everybody, that can go up against the private insurers and go up against the suppliers in buying power and that is formulated so that it hits the ground running on day one of the insurance exchange."

As if shutting the door on compromise, Schumer warned, "We can only bend so much to try to win over opponents of health care reform. we cannot bend so far that we break."

Senators are stuck on several points regarding cooperatives, namely, how much money the federal government injects on the front end and how a governing board would be selected. Members appear to agree that the government could be involved in setting up the board, but more liberal Democrats want to see the government continued to be involved. Conrad said the board needs to be interim, as coops usually run -- eventually leading to situation where only coop members compromise the board.

Conrad insisted that he continues to negotiate, even with Republicans, saying, "Significant Republicans, people who are major players on health care, have repeatedly indicated that the cooperative approach is the only one that they can support."

"At the end of the day, you have to have a bill that gets the votes," Conrad said.

"Anyone who thinks this is easy or a lay-up that can be done in a week or two, well, obviously not," Schumer said.

by Mosheh Oinounou

Joined by a potential 2012 presidential candidate, Republican House leaders Tuesday took aim at the Democratic healthcare proposal they say will eliminate choice, increase costs and destroy the private health insurance industry.

"Most Americans know that the government competes with the private sector the way an alligator competes with a duck. It consumes it," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), House Republican Conference Chairman, standing alongside House Minority Leader John Boehner.

The House GOPers also welcomed Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who made a pit stop in DC today on his way to two-day swing through New Hampshire and Iowa, stoking speculation that he is considering a run for the White House. But, Barbour brushed off a 2012 question and instead focused on healthcare Tuesday.

"We are very concerned about it. I think a lot of governors, Democrats as well as Republicans, know that this is a very difficult, very hard subject that it shouldn't be leaped into. There needs to be a lot of information to the American people, information to state governments. 852 pages it pretty hard to swallow in a very short period of time," Barbour said, referencing the length of the House Democratic bill.

The GOP leaders also expressed skepticism that Democrats will be able to come up with way to pay for health care reform--which some independent estimates state may cost more than $1.5 trillion.

Among the solutions to paying for reform is cutting as much as $500 billion in waste and fraud from the Medicare and Medicaid systems.  Along those lines, Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) today announced the creation of "Medi-Fraud Alert," an online forum that he says will highlight policy solutions to improve the federal health programs.

"Waste, fraud and abuse in our current government healthcare programs is shockingly high and places an enormous burden on both the U.S. taxpayer and our healthcare system," Roskam said in a statement. "As we move forward with healthcare reform, it's simply nonsensical that we'd create an exponentially larger government-run healthcare system when our current one is plagued with such waste and fraud...the Medi-Fraud Alert will help inform the public about the severe problems in our current systems and outline ways to move forward in reforming healthcare."

It appears that President Obama's has finally satisfied some of his critics on Iran.

"I think the President did step up his criticism of the Iranian regime. I congratulate him for that and we need to keep the pressure up," House Minority Leader, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH),  told reporters Tuesday when asked about the President's latest remarks about the Iranian crisis.

At an afternoon press conference, the commander-in-chief sharpened his criticism of the Iranian regime and their attempt to quash demonstrations questioning the legitimacy of last week's election.

"The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings and imprisonments of the last few days," the president said Tuesday, referring to the Iranian government's "unjust actions."

Obama has faced a lot of scrutiny from Hill Republicans in the last week who cast the President as too "timid" in showing support for Iranian protesters.

"(The President needs) to take real, strong action, make it clear he's not going to sit down with the Iranians until they begin to treat their people respectfully and that they're willing to stop their nuclear programs," Boehner said in an interview on Bloomberg News last week.

--Mosheh Oinounou

Sen. John Ensign, R-NV, returned to the Capitol Monday, the first time since admitting to an extra-marrital affair with a former member of his staff.

The reception on the Senate floor amongst his colleagues was jovial and warm.  The body has been described as "the world's most exclusive club," and it felt like that today -- like the members were welcoming a long, lost friend. There were handshakes and slaps on the back. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, Ensign's political nemesis in the 2008 Congressional elections, even had what appeared to be a friendly conversation with the embattled senator.

Ensign did not even face the usual gauntlet of press that stalk a member of Congress who has admitted to this kind of thing.  Outside his office, two TV cameras and two still still photographers, with a small handful of reporters awaited.

Ensign strode directly at the awaiting media, no dodging down back hallways, as some in his predicament have done in the past.

The senator studiously avoided discussing the affair, saying only, "I have said all I am going to say on the topic," referring to the press conference he held in his home town of Las Vegas last week.

Ensign walked out of the Russell Senate Office Building, with the handful of media in tow, crossed the street, and walked directly into the Capitol for a vote.

"I will continue to work for the people of Nevada," Ensign said, when reporters asked about whether or not this would have an affect on his political future.

Ensign is rumored to be exploring a run for President in 2012, when his Senate seat is up, a move the senator, himself, denies publicly.  Ensign recently traveled to Iowa, home of the Iowa Caucuses and a crucial stop for any presidential hopeful.