Senate Passes Health Care Reform
By a vote of 60 to 39, entirely along party lines, the U.S. Senate today passed a historic health care reform bill that will expand coverage to 31 million Americans without insurance.
“We’re all very, very proud of this moment,” said Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) at a press conference after the vote aired on C-SPAN. “Today we made history.”
Progress is not easy, said Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), “but today we were able to prove it’s possible.”
The Senate bill, which met a wall of resistance from Republicans and a threat of “kill the bill” from the left for its imperfections, now must be reconciled with the House-passed legislation, which includes the public option that had to be jettisoned from the measure negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to achieve passage.
Other items, such as the types of taxes to levy to pay for the proposal as well as abortion language, remain to be worked out in conference.
The shaky coalition for reform has to hold together for several more weeks before the bill can be passed and signed by President Barack Obama, who wants to achieve what has eluded so many Democratic presidents for decades: health care for millions more Americans.
The president spoke to the cameras shortly after the vote, calling the measure “real reform” that bans discriminatory practices by health insurers, curbs costs, and expands coverage to millions. He said this is the “most important reform” since Medicare’s passage in the 1960s.
“Our challenge then is to finish the job,” he said, before wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.