Let it be clear today to anyone who holds cynicism above their own faith in America and its ability to overcome adversity, TODAY, a President who in the campaign promised to tackle Health Care Reform in his first year and get it done has done so as promised.
Forget your dislike of the details, forget your disagreements with what is being done. A Presidential candidate ran on a platform of getting things done and he has come through.
THIS is what politics is all about, THIS is why people run for office, and THIS is what being an American is all about.
What makes me incredibly happy today is the wave of excitement and sighs of relief being expressed by people all over the country in every political platform available.
There are supporters celebrating and rallying for this health care bill at Melissa Bean's office, Bill Foster's office, Bobby Rush's office, Luis Gutierrez' office, and the list goes on outside of my own backyard.
It's really encouraging for me to be speaking to people who have never even had insurance in their life, people who's experience with America's medical system ends at a couple of hospital visits that they had no choice but to make and have since not been able to pay fully or have been too badly held back by the expenses to keep up with repayment.
It's humbling to hear from friends who have lost family members to cancer because their family could not keep up with uninsured payment of medical bills after being dropped for some arbitrary decision that the condition was pre-existing.
I truly feel like a member of Congress today, and if my hopes to one day actually become a member don't come true, these moments in the wake of history will surely suffice.
Most of all, I feel proud because the work I did early in 2007 when a seemingly insurmountable majority of America didn't even know who Barack Obama was ended up being fruitful in not getting a specific person elected, but actually getting the work of the people done.
The campaign started without big corporate money, the campaign began with hopes towards the agenda that was being set, one that would finally put the American people at the forefront of legislation and turn away from the failed 'trickle down' economic policies Ronald Reagan proliferated and George W Bush proved didn't work. We didn't look to the person we were looking up to for leaderships and action; the Obama phenomenon did not exist yet.
I am proud of the process we set forward, I am proud of the things that have gotten accomplished. I will put to rest my reservations and disappointment on things I don't believe go far enough.
Let it be clear today to anyone who holds cynicism above their own faith in America and its ability to overcome adversity, TODAY, a President who in the campaign promised to tackle Health Care Reform in his first year and get it done has done so as promised.
Forget your dislike of the details, forget your disagreements with what is being done. A Presidential candidate ran on a platform of getting things done and he has come through.
This legislation has been 78 YEARS in the making, and because of what we did in 2008, we've finally been able to make this a reality. We will be saving thousands of lives because of what we do today. 48,000 uninsured die every year. Therefore, this bill could not be more pro-life if Stupak's amendment were in it.
I couldn't be happier or prouder of what we're getting done today. THIS is what politics is all about, THIS is why people run for office, and THIS is what being an American is all about.