Public Healthcare on the way?

HOUSE PASSES FIRST HURDLE IN DELIVERING PUBLIC HEALTHCARE, the Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Barack Obama’s health care initiative has cleared its first big hurdle in the House, with lawmakers voting to advance the debate. The House voted 242-192 in favor of a must-pass procedural measure setting the terms for the debate. All 177 Republicans voted to block the debate.

With Obama urging them on in a rare personal visit to Capitol Hill, Democrats pushed toward a final vote late Saturday on the bill, which would reshape the U.S. health care system and extend coverage to millions of the uninsured. Obama said now is the time for Congress to “answer the call of history” and approve the legislation.

After meeting for nearly an hour with House Democrats, Obama went to the White House Rose Garden and said opportunities like passing a major health overhaul “come around maybe once in a generation.” Earlier Saturday, after emerging from a closed-door meeting with the president, Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted passage of the bill later in the day, adding, “We will pass health care reform.”

“He came here to say, ‘This is what we said we would do in the campaign. Let’s do it,”’ Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said after the meeting. Obama made his trip to the Capitol complex as abortion rights lawmakers voiced anger at a last-minute concession granted to foes of the procedure, who were given a vote on their proposal for stronger restrictions on abortion coverage.

“There is a risk” that some in the Pro-Choice Caucus would vote against the legislation if the stricter curbs are adopted, said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo.

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1. K. Barkley Says:
   December 12th, 2009 at 6:02 am

   They need to quit playing around with this issue. Over 48 million Americans are stuck without insurance and we have a government that refuses to work together for the common good of its people. This is not a game. People are sick and need coverage. H1N1, AIDS, and other diseases are spreading as we speak.

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