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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi |
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U.S. House Democrats Pass Health Care Reform
WASHINGTON (By
Jay
Newton-Small,
Time)
November
8, 2009
The
House of
Representatives
tonight
passed
220-215
sweeping
$1.2
trillion
health
care
reform
legislation.
The bill
garnered
the
support
of just
one
Republican,
Joe Cao
of
Louisiana;
39
Democrats
voted
against
it.
The
vote,
which
looked
uncertain
even
going
into the
House
Rules
Committee
last
night,
came
after
the
adoption
240-194
of an
amendment
sponsored
by Rep.
Bart
Stupak,
a
Michigan
Democrat
ensuring
that no
money
would go
to
funding
abortions.
Pro-choice
groups
expressed
outrage
over
what
they
considered
an
assault
on a
woman's
right to
choose
and
progressives
vowed to
fight to
remove
the
provision
in
conference
with the
Senate.
We've
sought
in the
case of
this
common
ground
in many
areas,
House
Speaker
Nancy
Pelosi,
who
personally
was
against
the
amendment
though
she
brokered
the deal
to bring
it to a
vote,
told
reporters
after
passage.
We'll
continue
to seek
common
ground.
The
House
punted
on
several
contentious
issues,
such as
limiting
access
of
illegal
immigrants
to the
so-called
exchange
that, if
the bill
is
enacted
into
law,
will be
created
to help
expand
coverage
to the
50
million
uninsured
Americans.
They
also
didn't
address
medical
malpractice
liability,
an issue
identified
by
President
Obama in
his
special
address
of the
Joint
Session
of
Congress
on
health
care
reform,
as an
area of
common
ground
with
Republicans.
The GOP,
in fact,
used
their
motion
to
recommit
-- a
proceedural
vote the
minority
often
uses to
highlight
specific
problems
with
legislation
-- to
highlight
the lack
of
liability
reform
of the
system,
a
surprise
as most
Democrats
expected
them to
focus on
the
immigration
provisions.
The move
produced
a tense
if
amusing
moment
during
the
debate
when
Iowa
Democrat
Bruce
Braley,
a former
trial
lawyer,
delivered
the
Democratic
rebuttal.
Republicans
taunted
him,
yelling,
Trail
lawyer!
A few of
their
own,
though,
couldn't
help but
laugh
when
Rep. Don
Young,
an
Alaska
Republican
and a
well
known
employer
of
several
lawyers
due to
various
legal
woes,
called
out,
Line
your
pockets,
ambulance
chaser!
The
Republican
alternative
bill
failed
mostly
along
party
lines by
a vote
of
176-258
with one
Republican,
Timothy
Johnson
of
Illinois,
voting
Nay.
Republicans
nearly
unilaterally
condemned
the vote
as a
total
government
takeover
of
health
care,
said
Rep.
John
Shadegg,
an
Arizona
Republican,
in a
statement.
This is
a tragic
day for
all
Americans,
a day
that
will go
down in
infamy
for
anyone
who
believes
in
freedom,
liberty
and the
future
of our
nation
and its
citizens,
he
added.
The sole
vote for
the bill
came
from
Cao, a
former
Jesuit
priest
who
represents
a
heavily
Democratic
district
and who
was
leaned
upon by
the
Catholic
Bishops
and the
White
House
after
the
Stupak
amendment
passed.
Earlier
in the
day, Tea
Party
activists
held a
rally
the
second
this
week
on the
East
lawn of
the
Capitol.
This one
was much
smaller,
though
no less
vocal
than
Thursday's
theatrics.
When
asked if
Dems
could
expect
more
protests
when
they
head
home
tonight
for a
week's
recess
on honor
of
Veterans
Day,
Rep.
Chris
Van
Hollen,
a
Maryland
Democrat
who
heads
the
Democratic
Congressional
Campaign
Committee,
which
works to
elect
Democrats
to
Congress,
pointed
to
today's
small
rally as
evidence
that the
attention
paid to
far
right
opposition
is
fading.
They
had a
protest
today
and it
didn't
seem to
scare
anyone's
vote
tonight,
Van
Hollen
said.
President
Obama,
who made
a rare
Saturday
trip to
Capitol
Hill to
rally
the
caucus,
called
to
congratulate
Pelosi
and the
Democratic
leadership
after
the
vote. He
also
personally
called
several
fence
sitters
thoughout
the day.
I
decided
this
afternoon
that I'd
vote for
it,
said
Rep. Dan
Maffei,
a New
York
Democrat
who is
facing a
tough
reelection
at home.
It was
going to
be tough
either
way I
voted
The
president
reassured
me that
[several
of my
issues]
would be
addressed
going
forward.
Of the
Democrats
that
voted
Nay,
most
were
from
swing
districts
like
Maffei.
Though,
at least
one,
Rep.
Dennis
Kucinich
of Ohio,
voted
against
the bill
from the
left
saying
it
didn't
go far
enough
to reign
in
health
insurers.
We
cannot
fault
the
insurance
companies
for
being
what
they
are,
Kucinich
said in
a
statement.
But we
can
fault
legislation
in which
the
government
incentivizes
the
perpetuation,
indeed
the
strengthening,
of the
for-profit
health
insurance
industry,
the very
source
of the
problem.
House
Majority
Whip Jim
Clyburn
told
reporters
at the
end of
the
night
that the
vote has
been the
toughest
of his
career,
the
climate
change
bill
earlier
this
year a
distant
second.
Pelosi,
who
brought
down the
gavel on
final
passage
and was
applauded,
hugged
and
lauded
by every
Democrat
even
those
who
voted
against
the
bill,
was more
sanguine.
They're
all a
challenge
in their
own way,
remember
the
stimulus,
the
budget,
climate
change?
she
said,
before
walking
into her
offices
to a
thunderous
round of
applause
just
after
midnight.
The bill
now
heads to
the
Senate
where
passage
before
the end
of the
year
remains
uncertain.
House
Dems,
though,
in a
victory
press
conference,
preened
at their
achievement.
We've
done
something
people
have
been
trying
to do
for more
than 100
years,
House
Majority
Leader
Steny
Hoyer
said.
This is
a great
day.
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