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President Barack Obama's departure for an upcoming overseas trip has been pushed back three days to help Democrats with a final push on healthcare reform.

Obama will leave for his trip to Indonesia and Australia on March 21 instead of March 18, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced. The president previously expressed a willingness to delay the trip to work on healthcare reform, according to a senior administration official.

Obama spent much of the past week pitching his healthcare reform plan to nervous congressional Democrats behind closed doors. He has also tried to boost public support for the plan, publicly calling for a final up-or-down vote in Congress while hammering the unpopular health insurance industry during visits to Pennsylvania and Missouri.

"I'm delighted that the president will be here for the passage of the bill," Pelosi said. She immediately added a caveat to the timetable, however, saying she is only "hoping" that the healthcare reform bill will be passed "in that time frame."