Health-care vote an epic victory for U.S. president and a massive political gamble
March 22, 2010 Mitch Potter
U.S. President Barack Obama, seen with Vice-President Joe Biden, speaks late March 21, 2010 after the House passed health-care reform.
WASHINGTON–A watershed moment for America, a defining victory for its president. The core element of change upon which Barack Obama was elected came to pass Sunday night in the form of sweeping health-care reform.
But the final gavel dropped as divisively as ever, with Washington lawmakers breaking along bitterly partisan lines, leaving Democrats alone to bear the glory – and the blame – for the most substantive expansion of the American social safety net in generations.
Obama’s bold but risk-fraught drive to deliver on his signature campaign promise in the face of severe economic straits came to a dramatic head well after nightfall, as final pleas gave way to the fateful vote – with House Democrats overcoming their own 11th-hour objections to pass the bill 219-212, sealing the Senate’s version of reform.
“Tonight … we rose above the weight of our politics. We pushed back against the undue weight of lobbyists. Instead we proved we are people capable of doing big things,” Obama said, speaking from the East Room of the White House just before midnight, when the final tally was known.
“This is what change looks like,” he said, claiming victory not on behalf of Democrats but Americans as a whole. “In the end, what this day represents is another stone embedded in the American dream.”
Sunday’s outcome represented both an epic victory and a massive gamble for the White House, emboldening Republicans and Tea Party activists to frame November’s midterm elections as a referendum on the controversial reforms.
As Sunday’s legislative climax approached, Democrats put aside election anxieties, basking instead in the gravitas of a moment that has eluded Washington since Teddy Roosevelt broached the idea of universal health coverage 98 years ago.
“It’s going to go through. It’s going to do some wonderful good,” said a beaming Representative John Dingell of Michigan, the longest serving member in the history of the House. Dingell brought to the Capitol the same gavel he used to enact Medicare legislation in 1965. The gavel was later handed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who presided over the historic vote.
Rhode Island Representative Patrick Kennedy drew parallels to the struggle for civil rights, reading a quote from his late father, Ted, about his slain uncle, John F. Kennedy, during the debate leading up to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
“No memorial, oration or eulogy could more eloquently honour his memory than the earliest possible passage of this bill, for which he fought so long. His heart and his soul are in this bill,” the younger Kennedy quoted, acknowledging the passage aptly described Ted Kennedy’s lifelong commitment to health-care reform.
Republican lawmakers, in a staccato series of final denunciations, branded the bill a “fiscal Frankenstein” that raised the sceptre of “social engineering” by an “intellectual elite” that will “permanently diminish the freedom of the American individual.”
The reform package, which must still return to the Senate for final approval before Democrats can truly claim victory, now appears assured. It will see the United States take a quantum leap toward the rest of the developed world, ultimately providing near universal health care to an additional 32 million uninsured Americans.
Other changes include a provision barring private insurance companies from denying coverage on the grounds of pre-existing conditions. And as the reforms gradually take hold – full implementation will not happen until 2014 – they will compel most Americans to buy insurance or face penalties approaching $700 a year if they refuse.
Historians liken the scale of change to the advent of Medicare and civil rights legislation in the 1960s. And the cost of reform remains in dispute, despite an assessment by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which last week projected the $940-billion price tag over the next 10 years would actually save the government money.
Sunday’s final debate came amid the backdrop of virulent public opposition, as Tea Party protesters pressed in on the Capitol building, chanting “Kill the bill, kill the bill.” On Saturday, some of those protesters targeted a handful of black members of Congress and one prominent gay lawmaker, shouting racist epithets as they passed.
“I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus,” said Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn.
Republican National Chairman Michael Steele condemned the slurs calling them unrelated to the broader conservative movement.
Sunday’s extraordinary session of the House unfolded as a cliffhanger, with both parties insisting they were within reach of the 216 votes required to pass or defeat the bill.
The breakthrough came at 4 p.m. as a pivotal group of anti-abortion Democrats, led by Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan, threw their support behind the bill after winning a pledge from Obama of an Executive Order to reinforce the long-standing status quo that no federal funds would be used to provide abortion.
For Obama, the move clinched the signature accomplishment of his presidency. Simultaneously, it exposed his party to the potentially harsh judgment of voters, who will decide in November whether such momentous change with single-party support merits a renewal of the Democratic hold on Congress.
The hypercharged abortion issue flared anew late Sunday as lawmakers readied to cast votes on an opposition motion to effectively scuttle the health-care bill when an unidentified Republican shouted “Baby killer” at Stupak. The outburst caused a collective gasp from the Democratic side of the House.The motion was defeated and the House proceeded then to a final vote known as reconciliation, passing adjustments to the newly passed health-care bill that will require a majority approval by the Senate in coming days.
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Tags: health care, News, Obama, United States
