Health Care Vote

A vote by the U.S. House of Representatives on a health care reform bill, known as the Health Care & Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, passed the historic legislation on Sunday, March 21, 2010 by a vote of 219-212. After passage of the main health care bill, the legislation went to President Barack Obama's desk where he signed the measure into law. One additional step needs to be completed, with a reconciliation package of minor changes to the bill needing approval in the Senate. The House vote came hours after President Obama compromised with some hold-out Democrats, issuing an executive order pledging that no federal funds would be used for elective abortion.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35961584/ns/politics-health_care_reform/#4 http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/president-obama-signs-historic-health-care-bill----fixes-come-next.php?ref=fpa

Some Senate Republicans held out hope that they would be able to block the passage of the corrections bill during the budget "reconciliation" procedure in the Senate. Work on the reconciliation process is expected to begin in the Senate later in the week. In the days leading up to the vote, Democratic leadership made their final push for the votes necessary to pass the bill after more than a year of intense debate. The expansive overhaul of health care is intended to extend insurance coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans.http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1915103720100319

By 6 p.m. on Sunday, the House had passed a preliminary rule allowing for debate on the final vote to commence and it appeared that the Democrats would have enough to win a final vote.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/21/health-care-vote-live-upd_n_507238.html#top President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats had been struggling to ensure that there were enough votes from Democrats who hold a majority of seats in both houses of Congress. Republicans have consistently opposed the legislation. Republicans complained that the bill costs too much in the face of federal budget deficits and is an unwanted intrusion into people's relationships with their health care providers.http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/checkpoint/

Faced with the threat of a Republican filibuster in the U.S. Senate, Democratic leaders in the House planned to pass both the health care bill approved by the Senate in December 2009 and a separate package of changes contained in a reconciliation bill. According to a Congressional Budget Office analysis the bill would cost $940 billion over 10 years, below the $950 billion goal set by President Obama. In addition, the CBO stated that the legislation would reduce future federal deficits by $138 billion over 10 years.http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/checkpoint/

In an earlier vote on another version of the bill on November 7, 2009, the House passed H.R. 3962, the "Affordable Healthcare for America Act." The bill passed 220-215. One Republican, Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao (R-LA), joined 219 Democrats in the vote.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33748707/ns/politics-health_care_reform/

The Senate voted on December 24 to pass a bill that would provide access health insurance for tens of millions, however, faced with the threat of a Republican filibuster, little movement was made toward a merger of the House and Senate bills that would then have to be approved by the Senate. Matters were complicated for Democrats after the election of Scott Brown to the Senate from Massachusetts (filling the seat vacated by the death of Ted Kennedy). Brown's election reduced the number of Democrats in the Senate to 59, short of the supermajority needed to override a Republican filibuster.http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/checkpoint/