Historic Healthcare Bill Passes

Delivering a hard-fought victory in President Barack Obama's year-long pursuit of a national healthcare overhaul, a divided House tonight narrowly approved legislation which both supporters and opponents call historic in its sweep, reports The Los Angeles Times.

The House's 219-212 vote yesterday on a Senate-passed bill will deliver to the president's desk an initiative for which he has fought on Capitol Hill and campaigned across the country: A healthcare bill that he finally can sign.

Thirty-four members of the president's party joined all the House's Republicans in voting against the healthcare bill.

The House then approved, by a vote of 220-211, a package designed to reconcile differences between the Senate-and-House-approved bill and another which the House already had approved in November.

Together, the two measures would present the president with a long-sought triumph for the signature domestic agenda of his presidency, a bid to offer health insurance to an estimated 32 million Americans who are uninsured and improve the coverage of those with insurance.

The second measure still must go to the Senate, where leaders hope to approve it by a simple majority vote under a process of "budget reconciliation.'' Any changes made in the Senate, however, would return that to the House before the president signs it.

"I know this bill is complicated, but it's also very simple,'' said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) during the final debate. "Illness and infirmity are universal, but we are stronger against them together than we are alone…. In that shared strength is our nation's strength.''