UPDATE: Health Care Reform Bill
Written by
KEYT Production
Story Created:
Mar 20, 2010 at 5:57 PM PST
Story Updated:
Mar 22, 2010 at 12:30 PM PST
Washington DC - The historic night may be over, but the debate over health care reform is very much alive today in Washington D.C. and across the country. Republican leaders say they aren't ready quite yet to roll over and will continue to fight and denounce the legislation, and the way in which it was passed.
As for the bill, a senior administration official says it's likely the President will sign it tuesday, then travel to Iowa on thursday to sell it
to a skeptical public. The official spoke on condition of anonymity
because the strategy hasn't been announced.
The President will also work to shepherd a companion bill through the
Senate that proposes changes to the bill that was passed by the
House late last night. Senators are expected to start debating
those changes as early as tomorrow.
Democrats hope the proposed fixes will emerge from the Senate
intact, while Senate Republicans will attempt to make changes. The companion bill isn't just about health care. It also proposes sweeping changes in the student loan program, an effort that has been stalled in the Senate for months.
BACKGROUND INFO: The Democratic-controlled Congress approved historic legislation Sunday night extending health care to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and cracking down on insurance company abuses.
What was once believed as dead a few months, the Senate-passed bill cleared the House on a 219-212 vote, with Republicans unanimous in opposition. Democratic leaders say they expect President Obama to sign the bill as early as Tuesday.
Locally, Democratic Congresswoman Lois Capps voted with her party, while Republican Congressman Elton Gallegly voted along party lines as well.
Outside the Capitol last night, crowds of protesters shouted "just vote no" in a futile attempt to stop the inevitable taking place inside a House packed with lawmakers and ringed with spectators in the galleries above.
Across hours of debate, House Democrats predicted the major bill, costing $940 billion over a decade, would rank with other great social legislation of recent decades. "We will be joining those who established Social Security, Medicare and now, tonight, health care for all Americans, said Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Republicans readily agreed the bill would affect everyone in America, but warned repeatedly of the burden imposed by more than $900 billion in tax increases and Medicare cuts combined. "We have failed to listen to America," said Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, leader of a party that has vowed to carry the fight into the fall's midterm elections for control of Congress.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects the legislation would extend coverage to 32 million Americans who don't have it, ban insurers from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions and cut deficits by an estimated $138 billion over a decade. If realized, the expansion of coverage would include 95 percent of all eligible individuals under age 65.
One controverisal and hotly contested issue was that of abortions, and whether federal funding would be made available under this reform bill. President Obama has stated that he will sign an executive order to make sure no federal money is used for abortions. This issue became a majority sticking point up until the final hours, because nearly a dozen Democrats, and a majority of Republicans, voiced concern that federal money would be used to fund abortions.
