The Republican and Democratic Parties, the White House, and several
lawmakers reacted immediately after the passage of the first procedural
vote on the Senate's healthcare reform bill Saturday night.
The
measure passed 60-39, meaning that the Senate can now begin formal
debate on the bill. All Republican senators voted against the measure
aside from Sen. George Voinovich (Ohio), who was absent. All members of
the Democratic caucus voted for it.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said:
The
President is gratified that the Senate has acted to begin consideration
of health insurance reform legislation. Tonight’s historic vote brings
us one step closer to ending insurance company abuses, reining in
spiraling health care costs, providing stability and security to those
with health insurance, and extending quality health coverage to those
who lack it. The President looks forward to a thorough and productive
debate.
Republican National Committee
chairman Michael Steele targeted the two holdout senators, Mary
Landrieu (D-La.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.):
Tonight
a number of moderate Democrats sacrificed their principles to give
Harry Reid a victory that brings America dangerously closer to having a
government-run health care system. Make no mistake: this was not a
free vote. A vote in favor of this procedural motion paves the way for
the bill’s final adoption, which would impose a government-run health
care experiment on America that increases premiums, increases taxes,
cuts Medicare and allows for taxpayer-funded abortions. As the recent
elections in Virginia and New Jersey showed, Harry Reid’s health care
scheme is exactly what voters do not want. President Obama, Harry Reid
and their liberal Senate allies will surely gloat and pat themselves on
the back for winning tonight’s vote in the dark of night during a rare
Saturday session, while Americans were home with their families. But
as they do, those moderate Democrats who voted for Harry Reid’s bill
will have to answer to their constituents.
Democratic National Committe chairman Tim Kaine said:
Today,
the Senate took another historic step on the road to enacting health
insurance reform. By clearing this first procedural hurdle, senators
will now have an opportunity to debate the health reform bill on the
Senate floor and continue to make progress on delivering health
insurance reform to the American people. I want to extend my
congratulations to Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator Dick Durbin
for their tenacity in bringing the bill to the floor, and thank
countless other senators for their commitment to reform as the Senate
begins this historic debate.
While unfortunate, it’s not
terribly surprising that no Republicans voted in favor of the motion to
proceed. Defenders of the status quo have been working to derail reform
for months -- unfortunately, their obstructionist, just-say-no tactics
represent more of the same. No matter. We know that there are some
members of the Republican Party who understand the urgent need for
health insurance reform and we remain hopeful that we can continue to
work with those members to find common ground on this historic effort
to pass health insurance reform that provides greater security and
stability to Americans who have insurance and more quality affordable
options to those who don’t. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act would bring down the skyrocketing costs of care for American
families, businesses and our government, and reduce the national
deficit $130 billion by 2019.
We've been trying to reform our
broken system since Harry Truman was president -- now, we're in the
home stretch. This time, President Obama and Congressional Democrats
will deliver health insurance reform to the American people.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Twitter:
Tonight was another historic step forward towards health insurance reform. Debate begins Nov 30th.
Senare Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said:
The health care debate is now officially underway on this 2,074 page, multi-trillion-dollar health care experiment.
This
bill may have been drafted behind closed doors but now it’s the
American people’s turn to have their voices heard. For months, they
have been asking Congress to do something about the high cost of
healthcare and yet the sponsors of this bill responded with a
half-trillion dollars in Medicare cuts, massive tax hikes, and an
unsustainable expansion of new government programs which Congress’s
non-partisan scorekeeper says will result in higher premiums, not
lower. It may be a lot of things, but it’s sure not reform.
Republicans
will now provide what the closed-door sessions did not. We will
continue to offer the commonsense, step-by-step cost-saving reform that
Americans really want.
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said on Twitter:
But
tonight it became clear that those who simply want to obstruct any
progress and defend the broken status quo simply will not win.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said on Twitter:
Some senators who voted for this healthcare takeover may have made a career-ending decision tonight
Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) said on Twitter:
Cast
an historic vote to begin debate of Sen health care bill which covers
94% of Americans and reduces the deficit by at least $127 billion
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said on Twitter:
They got 60 exactly,not one more,including Snowe.This isn't the end of fight.It's just the beginning.My statement http://tinyurl.com/yeqes2n
Vitter's statement reads:
As
I traveled every corner of Louisiana during the August recess meeting
with Louisianians in over 21 health care town hall meetings, I learned
a great deal. I learned that Louisianians are starting to connect the
dots as to what’s going on up here in Washington as we’ve moved closer
to nationalizing our banks, insurance companies and the automobile
industry. Now, they are watching their government continue to expand
its size and grow its power as we move very close to allowing for a
government takeover of our health care system – an industry that makes
up one-sixth of the American economy.
This bill is designed to
push those with private insurance onto the government plan by making it
costly and uncomfortable for both the small businesses and their
employees to continue to keep private insurance. The result is going to
lead to an explosion in debt and spending that will undoubtedly fall on
our children and grandchildren. One of the ways in which the
administration intends to pay for this massive government program is to
cut Medicare by half a trillion dollars even as they increase new taxes
and fees by that same amount.
I’ve always said that 2,000 plus
paged bills passed in a blur are often riddled with mischief and
consequences that don’t come to light until well after the bill is
signed into law, and this bill is a prime example of that.
We
all want to see real, concrete health care reform enacted, but rushing
through passage of a 2,000-plus paged bill that will add trillions of
dollars to our already ballooning debt is absolutely not the direction
we should be heading.
What I’ve learned from my town hall
meetings across Louisiana is that several modest-sized bills targeted
toward specific reforms like tort reform, purchasing insurance across
state lines, addressing preexisting conditions and lowering the cost of
prescription drugs through reimportation would make for a more
acceptable approach.
Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) said on Twitter:
Senate
voted to move the health care bill forward 60 - 39. The legislative
process continues. Thinking of Sen. Kennedy & his family.
Read more...
Just
as lawmakers and agency officials are starting to adopt Twitter as a
way to reach citizens, Web measurement firms show traffic to the site
is starting to slip.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
