Though Democrats and Republicans disagreed on the positives and negatives of such a bill, most acknowledged that it was indeed a historic day in American politics. The House of Representatives used “reconciliation” and voted to approve the bill the U.S. Senate approved back in December. Along with a few minor changes, both houses of Congress reached compromise on their separate bills, giving President Obama the victory he basically put his presidency on the line for.
At approximately 10:45pm EDT, after a plethora of speeches from both Democrats and Republicans, the electronic votes were cast and counted. Speaker Nancy Pelosi contacted the President with the positive news, who, along with Vice-President Biden by his side, delivered a late night message to the American people. Mr. Obama said: “For the first time in our nation’s history, Congress has passed comprehensive health care reform. America waited a hundred years and fought for decades to reach this moment. Tonight, thanks to you, we are finally here.”
For anyone who already has health coverage and is happy with it, they will be able to keep it. But this new $940 billion bill will cover over 32 million uninsured Americans, ban the denial of coverage for preexisting conditions, and reduce health costs and the deficit over the next 20 years. Many benefits could be available in as soon as 90 days, while others will be phased in by 2014. But in spite of a bill that many in Congress who voted for it say is still somewhat flawed, the bill will become the law of the land when Mr. Obama signs it, which is expected to come on Tuesday. The President will now do some post-vote quarterbacking and hit the road to further convince skeptical Americans on the benefits of this bill.
"after a PLETHORA" of speeches”…..You got that right DJ_smh. Good grief! I refused to sit and watch that stuff ALL day. But I was determined to see the actual vote take place so I was forced to keep checking in with CNN and MSNBC throughout the day/evening. The whole exercise wore on my nerves! Anyway….There’s no question that when the President finally became FULLY active in aggressively making the case for passing this Bill his input was Highly significant. But I credit Nancy Pelosi with this historical achievement moreso than the President because SHE was the one fighting behind the scenes over the past year to keep this “baby” alive when the parrot-pundits and other “lamestream” news media puppets kept declaring it “DOA” and the President seemed otherwise preoccupied on the sidelines until LATE in the game.