Good evening,
everybody. Tonight, after nearly 100 years of
talk and frustration, after decades of trying, and a year of
sustained effort and debate, the United States Congress finally
declared that America’s workers and America's families and
America's small businesses deserve the security of knowing that
here, in this country, neither illness nor accident should endanger
the dreams they’ve worked a lifetime to achieve.
Tonight, at a time when the
pundits said it was no longer possible, we rose above the weight of
our politics. We pushed back on the undue
influence of special interests. We didn't give in
to mistrust or to cynicism or to fear. Instead,
we proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things
and tackling our biggest challenges. We proved
that this government -- a government of the people and by the
people -- still works for the people.
I want to thank every member of
Congress who stood up tonight with courage and conviction to make
health care reform a reality. And I know this
wasn’t an easy vote for a lot of people. But it
was the right vote. I want to thank Speaker Nancy
Pelosi for her extraordinary leadership, and Majority Leader Steny
Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn for their commitment to getting
the job done. I want to thank my outstanding Vice
President, Joe Biden, and my wonderful Secretary of Health and
Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, for their fantastic work on this
issue. I want to thank the many staffers in
Congress, and my own incredible staff in the White House, who have
worked tirelessly over the past year with Americans of all walks of
life to forge a reform package finally worthy of the people we were
sent here to serve.
Today’s vote answers the dreams of
so many who have fought for this reform. To every
unsung American who took the time to sit down and write a letter or
type out an e-mail hoping your voice would be heard -- it has been
heard tonight. To the untold numbers who knocked
on doors and made phone calls, who organized and mobilized out of a
firm conviction that change in this country comes not from the top
down, but from the bottom up -- let me reaffirm that
conviction: This moment is possible because of
you.
Most importantly, today’s vote
answers the prayers of every American who has hoped deeply for
something to be done about a health care system that works for
insurance companies, but not for ordinary people.
For most Americans, this debate has never been about abstractions,
the fight between right and left, Republican and Democrat -- it’s
always been about something far more personal.
It’s about every American who knows the shock of opening an
envelope to see that their premiums just shot up again when times
are already tough enough. It’s about every parent
who knows the desperation of trying to cover a child with a chronic
illness only to be told “no” again and again and
again. It’s about every small business owner
forced to choose between insuring employees and staying open for
business. They are why we committed ourselves to
this cause.
Tonight’s vote is not a victory
for any one party -- it's a victory for them.
It's a victory for the American people. And it's
a victory for common sense.
Now, it probably goes without
saying that tonight’s vote will give rise to a frenzy of instant
analysis. There will be tallies of Washington
winners and losers, predictions about what it means for Democrats
and Republicans, for my poll numbers, for my
administration. But long after the debate fades
away and the prognostication fades away and the dust settles, what
will remain standing is not the government-run system some feared,
or the status quo that serves the interests of the insurance
industry, but a health care system that incorporates ideas from
both parties -- a system that works better for the American
people.
If you have health insurance, this
reform just gave you more control by reining in the worst excesses
and abuses of the insurance industry with some of the toughest
consumer protections this country has ever known -- so that you are
actually getting what you pay for.
If you don’t have insurance, this
reform gives you a chance to be a part of a big purchasing pool
that will give you choice and competition and cheaper prices for
insurance. And it includes the largest health
care tax cut for working families and small businesses in history
-- so that if you lose your job and you change jobs, start that new
business, you’ll finally be able to purchase quality, affordable
care and the security and peace of mind that comes with
it.
This reform is the right thing to
do for our seniors. It makes Medicare stronger
and more solvent, extending its life by almost a
decade. And it’s the right thing to do for our
future. It will reduce our deficit by more than
$100 billion over the next decade, and more than $1 trillion in the
decade after that.
So this isn’t radical
reform. But it is major reform.
This legislation will not fix everything that ails our health care
system. But it moves us decisively in the right
direction. This is what change looks
like.
Now as momentous as this day is,
it's not the end of this journey. On Tuesday, the
Senate will take up revisions to this legislation that the House
has embraced, and these are revisions that have strengthened this
law and removed provisions that had no place in
it. Some have predicted another siege of
parliamentary maneuvering in order to delay adoption of these
improvements. I hope that’s not the
case. It’s time to bring this debate to a close
and begin the hard work of implementing this reform properly on
behalf of the American people. This year, and in
years to come, we have a solemn responsibility to do it
right.
Nor does this day represent the
end of the work that faces our country. The work
of revitalizing our economy goes on. The work of
promoting private sector job creation goes on.
The work of putting American families’ dreams back within reach
goes on. And we march on, with renewed
confidence, energized by this victory on their behalf.
In the end, what this day
represents is another stone firmly laid in the foundation of the
American Dream. Tonight, we answered the call of
history as so many generations of Americans have before
us. When faced with crisis, we did not shrink
from our challenge -- we overcame it. We did not
avoid our responsibility -- we embraced it. We
did not fear our future -- we shaped it.
Thank you, God bless you, and may
God bless the United States of America.
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