President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and senior staff, react in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, as the House passes the health care reform bill, March 21, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama’s remarks last night from the East Room after passage of the historic bill:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release                             March 22, 2010

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

ON THE HOUSE VOTE ON HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM

March 21, 2010

East Room

11:47 P.M. EDT

    THE PRESIDENT:  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.

                                         END                 11:55 P.M. EDT

Representative Jo Ann Emerson (r) is comfortable looking after Washington special interests, eh?:

Republicans rally Tea Party activists to oppose the health-care legislation

By Perry Bacon Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, March 21, 2010; 7:01 PM

Congressional Republicans rallied Tea Party activists to oppose the health-care legislation on the verge of being approved by Congress…

…As a group of several hundred protesters on the lawn of the Capitol shouted “No! No! No!” “Nancy, you will burn in hell for this!” and “Kill the bill!” rank-and-file Republican lawmakers came out to the balcony off the House floor in the midst of a series of procedural votes. Two different trios of GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Tom Latham (Iowa) and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (Mo.), waved signs with the words “Kill” “The” and “Bill” as the crowd cheered….

[emphasis added]

Those same teabaggers?

As Tommy Sowers, the Democratic Party candidate in the 8th Congressional District has pointed out, “Our district has over 22% uninsured.” You’d think the incumbent republican would care about that, wouldn’t you? Unless they had friends elsewhere.

As we were putting together this post we received the following statement from Tommy Sowers’ campaign:

Sowers demands Jo Ann Emerson apologize for encouraging hateful protest

Yesterday, Congresswoman Emerson was involved in encouraging protesters at the Capitol.  Instead of contributing to the debate, she offended her office and the people she claims to represent. This supposed moderate chose to incite the same voices that used racial slurs and spat on lawmakers (including Emanuel Cleaver, a fellow member of the Missouri delegation) on the steps of the Capitol.

Sowers said, “I call on Congresswoman Emerson to issue a formal apology for inciting these protests.  As an 11-year veteran, I defended the Constitution and the right to protest, but lending support to a group that has spit on and called lawmakers racial slurs is beyond defense.  This may make sense to a DC politician trying to grab headlines and score political points.  But this is not the kind of representation that the Founders intended, nor what the people of Missouri and America expect.”

Shortly after Emerson’s protest, Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen told reporters: “I think it is bad taste for people to go and encourage them. I can see this crowd getting out of control and they are being encouraged.”

The Sowers campaign couldn’t agree more.  Congresswoman Emerson must immediately apologize and disavow association with protestors that use hate and racial slurs.

{First, a quick plug for my blog Senate Guru.}

As we await the historic vote on health care reform, it’s important to remember that we’re just ten days away from the end of the first fundraising quarter of 2010.  The fundraising totals reported in this quarter will be pivotal to determining the tenor of many races for the rest of the year.  If there is any time to contribute, now is the time!

Please head over to the Expand the Map! ActBlue page and contribute whatever you are able to these terrific Democratic candidates for Senate.

Remember, the contribution you can make isn’t just a donation to a single candidate or political campaign.  It’s an investment against Republican obstruction (and conservaDem enabling) and an investment toward achieving that more perfect union.

Today, after yesterday’s disgusting incidents initiated by teabaggers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D), holding the 1965 Medicare gavel, and John Lewis (D) marched arm in arm past chanting teabaggers:

Video by Sam Stein.

That’s how you do it. That’s my kind of Speaker.

Congressman Ike Skelton (D – MO)

Apparently, for Congressman Ike Skelton (D), it is.

I just called his Washington office and the nice person on the other end of the phone, in response to my question, “Now that Congressman Stupak is supporting the health care reform bill, will Congressman Skelton vote for it?,” responded, “No…”

Remember this, from 1993?:

…The turning point for Margolies-Mezvinsky came when she made a last-minute switch to support the 1993 Clinton budget after months of publicly voicing her opposition to the bill because it did not contain enough spending cuts. During her campaign, she had promised not to raise taxes, and the budget proposed a hike in federal taxes, including a gasoline tax. On the day of the vote, she appeared on television and told her constituents that she was against the budget. Minutes before the vote, however, on August 5, 1993, President Clinton called to ask Margolies-Mezvinsky to support the measure. She told him that only if it was the deciding vote-in this case, the 218th yea-would she support the measure. “I wasn’t going to do it at 217. I wasn’t going to do it at 219. Only at 218, or I was voting against it,” she recalled. She also extracted a promise from Clinton that if she did have to vote for the budget package, that he would attend a conference in her district dedicated to reducing the budget deficit. He agreed (and later fulfilled the pledge). Nevertheless, Margolies-Mezvinsky told Clinton “I think I’m falling on a political sword on this one.” When she finally walked onto the House Floor to cast the decisive vote, passing the measure 218 to 216, Democrats cheered while Republicans jeered, “Goodbye, Marjorie!” She later recalled that “I knew at the time that changing my vote at the 11th hour may have been tantamount to political suicide…. [but] the vote would resolve itself into one simple question: Was my political future more important than the agenda the President had laid out for America?”…

[emphasis added]

A freshman legislator had to be the deciding vote while long time (and safer) incumbents couldn’t exhibit any political courage.

You know, we elect people to office to make the right decisions, not to be frightened by half truths, opposition distortions, the propaganda arm of the rnc, or crazy people. It’s not supposed to be too much to ask to do the right thing. But, apparently, it is in Missouri.

I expressed my extreme disappointment to that nice person on the other end of the phone.

It’s a shame how the media still bombards us with the bad news about acid rain. Not. That is so last century. And the reason we were able to curb that problem was that the Clean Air Act instituted a cap and trade system on sulfur. Utility companies analyzed the sulfur content of coal they had contracted to buy, and if it was high, they used that as a reason to void the contract and buy lower sulfur coal elsewhere, thus enabling themselves to sell their sulfur credits on a cap and trade market. It worked beautifully.

Sure, some coal companies fought the future: spread the idea that acid rain was a myth and that limits on sulfur would break the back of the coal industry. Sound familiar? But Arch Coal, headquartered in St. Louis, understood the futility of that course of action. The company dithered over whether to invest in the Powder River Basin, which had low sulfur coal that was easy to extract. Eventually, the leadership decided to make that heavy capital investment. It embraced the future instead of fighting the legislation, and that has paid off. Arch is now the number one domestic coal producer and, worldwide, the number two producer.

Tom Appelbaum, who was a coal geologist when all that was taking place, has since become a lawyer and is working with MAAEP–Missouri Association of Accredited Energy Professionals. Speaking recently at the Creve Coeur Township Democratic Club, he explained that not only will Cap and Trade work to reduce carbon emissions just as a similar system reduced sulfur emissions, it will also, like that older program, reward the forward looking companies–as well as reduce our long term energy costs. Coal companies that put money into wind turbines now and oil companies that invest in solar power will reap dividends later. Mass production, whether you’re talking solar cells or Model Ts, reduces the cost of production per unit. But first, that initial heavy capital investment has to happen.

Appelbaum applied that same lesson to a new kid on the clean energy block: highly efficient fuel cells being produced by a Silicon Valley company, Bloom Energy. Some of the heaviest hitters in the corporate world–FedEx, Wal-Mart, Staples, eBay and Google–have bought and used them in the last eighteen months. The Bloom Boxes will be available to businesses and homeowners as a way to cut energy costs in half and take themselves off the energy grid.

Sridhar [Bloom’s CEO] said the box is mostly a collection of fuel cells that use oxygen and fuel to generate electricity without creating any emissions. Oxygen is drawn into one side of the cell, while a fuel, such as a natural gas or bio-fuel, is drawn into the other side. The two combine within the cell and produce a chemical reaction that creates energy without any burning or combustion.

In the 60 Minutes interview, Sridhar said that he’s hoping to see Bloom Boxes become a common fixture in backyards and basements within 10 years. He estimated the cost of systems for individual homes at about $3,000.

Pretty exciting, right? Yes, though, like all the other clean energy alternatives, it will require that heavy initial investment. So Appelbaum foresees that the cost of dealing with climate change and weaning ourselves off foreign oil will be steep at first but that it will flatten out over time. Eventually alternative sources will:

“drive energy costs down. Dramatically. Now, in the interim, if there is an increase in energy costs, we’ve got thirty percent in our back pocket, and it’s called energy efficiency.

And that’s where MAAEP comes in. It is an association of professionals, a trade group consisting of private enterprise, non-profits and government agencies that mean to encourage energy efficiency upgrades in Missouri homes and businesses while making sure that the standards in this burgeoning business remain high.

Appelbaum’s assertion that we could save thirty percent on our energy costs is impressive. MAAEP intends to make more Missourians aware of that possibility and to show them how to get help paying for it. More on all that in the next posting.

We received the following statement from Congressman Emanuel Cleaver’s (D-MO) office:

For many of the members of the CBC, like John Lewis and Emanuel Cleaver who worked in the civil rights movement, and for Mr. Frank who has struggled in the cause of equality, this is not the first time they have been spit on during turbulent times.

This afternoon, the Congressman was walking into the Capitol to vote, when one protester spat on him. The Congressman would like to thank the US Capitol Police officer who quickly escorted the others Members and him into the Capitol, and defused the tense situation with professionalism and care. After all the Members were safe, a full report was taken and the matter was handled by the US Capitol Police. The man who spat on the Congressman was arrested, but the Congressman has chosen not to press charges. He has left the matter with the Capitol Police.

This is not the first time the Congressman has been called the “n” word and certainly not the worst assault he has endured in his years fighting for equal rights for all Americans. That being said, he is disappointed that in the 21st century our national discourse has devolved to the point of name calling and spitting. He looks forward to taking a historic vote on health care reform legislation tomorrow, for the residents of the Fifth District of Missouri and for all Americans. He believes deeply that tomorrow’s vote is, in fact, a vote for equality and to secure health care as a right for all. Our nation has a history of struggling each time we expand rights. Today’s protests are no different, but the Congressman believes this is worth fighting for.

Other media reports:

Tea Party Protests: ‘Ni**er,’ ‘Fa**ot’ Shouted At Members Of Congress

Dems: Protests get ugly, racist

If you’re science challenged and you failed averages in elementary school this is just further proof that global climate change is a socialist plot.

By tomorrow we’re supposed to get another five to eight inches of snow.

Spring in Missouri.

March 20, 2003

We left Warrensburg at 4:30 p.m. and made it to the J.C. Nichols fountain at 47th and Main in Kansas City by 5:30 p.m. The organizers had planned for some time to have a 6:00 p.m. protest on the Plaza if hostilities broke out. I had been ambivalent about attending given the ugly rhetoric which is now being directed at those who dissent by the purveyors of right wing talk radio, cable television, and “yellow journalism”.  We had to do something positive and affirming rather than sit at home watching the crap on television which passes for real journalism these days, so we were finally resolved to attend.  As we drove up to the fountain we saw that people were already on the picket line and the TV trucks and cameras were in abundance.  At its peak we had 400 to 500 people.

It was overcast, cold and windy – temperature in the 40s.  We took our place on the line. We had decided earlier to only bring our pacifist signs. “Peace on Earth”, “In the Name of God, Stop Killing, In the Name of God”, and my graphic peace sign – it’s getting tattered from so much use…

Somewhat subdued, we quietly spoke on the line.  My favorite new sign: “War is so 20th century”. The response from passing traffic was overwhelmingly positive – a lot of honking and peace signs.  One well pickled Republican matron rolled down her car window and asked, “Don’t you people know the war has already started?”  This kind of cluelessness shouldn’t surprise me anymore.  There were occasional pro-war shouts and one “bird”, though I was surprised that they were not as ugly and aggressive as they were last Sunday – I suppose they’re sated because they are getting their crappy little war.

We stood next to a veteran (there were many there tonight).  We were joined by an old friend and several colleagues.  After a while the organizers called us to the fountain.  Some folk singers sang a witty and satirical “12 days of war” song.  We had brought candles (and plastic cups as wind shields), so we lit them and stood listening to the music.  The singers had us all join in singing “Peace, Shalom, Salaam”.  There were several speakers.  In the most peaceful moment of the day for me, as we stood there with our candles, we were barely aware that a photographer from the Kansas City Star took our pictures (when he finished he asked for our names and where we were from, writing the information down).  After the announcements were finished, the host marched through the Plaza shopping district.

The marchers stayed on the sidewalk, chanting in a call and response “Tell me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like” and “What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!”  As we marched into the Plaza we passed the glassed in front of one of those upscale dining establishments.  Lo and behold, two older women were standing watching us and flashed us peace signs!  We looped back around and passed several clothing establishments.  Some people shopping in the stores or watching us from the doorways flashed peace signs.

After we made it back to the fountain we walked to our car for the hour long drive home.