House OKs health reform bill

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By Jennifer Haberkorn and S.A. Miller

Mr. Andrews said the comments were respectful and not viewed as politicizing the shooting. The president urged Democrats to consider the historic nature of extending access to health care to all Americans.

"I'm absolutely confident we will get this done, and when I'm in the Rose Garden signing a piece of legislation to give health care to all Americans, we'll look back and say this was our finest moment," one Democratic aide quoted the president as saying.

Democrats struggled in recent days to round up the votes required for passage over concern about illegal immigration and costs. But it was abortion that nearly derailed the legislation.

Democratic lawmakers who oppose abortion rights, led by Rep. Bart Stupak, Michigan Democrat, won the right to vote on the amendment in exchange for not killing the legislation in a procedural vote. Lawmakers in the negotiations said Mrs. Pelosi was furious and frustrated that she had to allow the amendment.

Liberal Democrats who support abortion rights grudgingly accepted it as a tough compromise necessary to pass the bill. The amendment passed 240-194, with support from 64 Democrats and all of the 176 Republicans.

Democrats who support abortion rights said they opposed the amendment, but voted for the bill to move the process forward, hoping that the ban would be removed when the House and Senate bills are combined.

"We're here because we have the opportunity, the privilege really, to get health care to all Americans and because we have the opportunity to fine-tune the bill in conference. I think that will address some of the concerns about voting for a final bill," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Illinois Democrat.

Mr. Boehner said on the floor that he worried that Democratic leaders weren't committed to keeping the ban in the bill once it was combined with the Senate version.

Much of the debate Saturday turned passionately partisan, underlying the division that marks the health care debate.

"If we fail to act on health care, if we fail to do what we must do, history will not be kind to any of us," said Rep. John Lewis, Georgia Democrat and a civil rights leader, in an enthusiastic speech on the House floor.

Rep. John Shadegg, Arizona Republican, brought the infant daughter of his chief of staff to the House floor to argue that the Democrats' bill would impose too heavy a burden on future generations.

"Maddie says, 'Don't tax me for health care that you guys want. If you want health care, pay for it yourselves,'" Mr. Shadegg said.

During the debate, about 1,500 demonstrators gathered outside the Capitol to protest the bill. Some waved American flags, and others displayed golden "Don't tread on me" rattlesnake flags. A copy of the nearly 2,000-page bill taped end to end stretched from the Capitol, down the steps and across the Southeast Lawn.

Richard Baumgartner, 73, who breathed with the aid of a portable oxygen tank and walked with a cane, was among three busloads of people from Western Maryland at the demonstration.

"If Obama-care goes through, I'd be one of them they'd have the death squad for because of my age and my physical condition," said Mr. Baumgartner, who receives Veterans Affairs health benefits. "This [bill] has something to do with taking away all our freedoms. It's not just health care."

Mr. Baumgartner's remarks echoed a speech Friday by Sarah Palin, who told a pro-life rally near Milwaukee that the liberal mind-set for abortion rights could lead to euthanasia under a government-run health care system.

"What may they feel about an elderly person who doesn't have a whole lot of productive years left?" said Mrs. Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. "In order to save government money, government health care has to be rationed. Do you think our elderly will be first in line for limited health care?"

Rep. John D. Dingell, Michigan Democrat and longest-serving member of the House, presided over some of the debate in the Saturday session. He last presided over the House in 1965 when the chamber passed legislation to establish the Medicare program.