On Wednesday’s NewsHour…

FULL COURT PRESS FOR HEALTH CARE | President Obama and House Democratic leaders gained some new momentum Wednesday in their bid to push through health care reform. NewsHour Congressional Correspondent Kwame Holman reports on the day’s developments and then for more, Judy Woodruff speaks with David Herszenhorn who covers Congress for The New York Times.

ABUSE CHARGES SHAKE VATICAN | Catholics in Ireland, Germany and the Vatican sought apologies and explanations as concerns over allegations of child abuse continued. Gwen Ifill talks with John Allen, Senior Correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and author of “The Rise of Benedict the 16th.”

OVERHAULING NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND | The Obama Administration has unveiled a new plan for changing public education. For reaction to the president’s proposal, Jeffrey Brown speaks with Bob Wise, President of the policy group Alliance for Excellent Education and former Governor of West Virginia; and Diane Ravitch, a former top education official in past Republican administrations and author of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.”

DOES THE U.S. NEED MORE GRADS? | The NewsHour presents excerpts from a debate on education and global competitiveness moderated by NewsHour Economics Correspondent Paul Solman and featuring Former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings; Michael Lomax, President of the United Negro College Fund; George Leef, of the John William Pope Center for Higher Education; and Richard Vedder, Professor of Economics at Ohio University. The debate is the first in a new season of national debates hosted by the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs.

Plus, Hari Sreenivasan will recap the day’s headlines from our newsroom and describe some of the features on our Web site, including this look at health reform ads hitting the airwaves.