Getting to the Magic Number

The U.S. House of Representatives late Sunday passed health care reform that will bring coverage to some 32 million Americans without insurance.

After hours of debate and a year of arm-twisting, the House passed the Senate's version of health care reform, reaching the magic number of 216 votes at around 10:45 p.m. The final tally was 219-212. Not a single Republican voted for the bill. The bill now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Among the bill's results will be reduction of the federal deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next decades.

House Majority Leader Stenny Hoyer opened the final debate, saying, "This bill will stand in the same company," as Social Security, "for it's lasting accomplishment."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ended the debate, hours later, saying, “It’s with great humility and with great pride that tonight we will make history. This is an American proposal that honors the traditions of our country.”

By 3:45 p.m., the House was debating whether to move into the general health care debate. It took 5 1/2 hours of contentious debate and procedural maneuvering before the House even began its debate.

The political dealing continued throughout the day as the president continued his frantic last-minute campaign to get health care reform passed after a year of hard debate on this bill and a century of debate on the concept.

“It’s a debate about the character of our country, about whether we can still meet the challenges of our time; whether we still have the guts and the courage to give every citizen, not just some, the chance to reach their dreams,” Obama told a crowd in Virginia Sunday morning.

And it appeared late this afternoon that an agreement had been reached to woo anti-abortion Democrats to the bill. Rep. Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, said he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House had reached an agreement protecting “the sanctity of life.” That deal pushed the bill over the top. When Stupak defended the bill and the deal he had made with the president to issue an executive order keeping spending from going to abortion, someone on the Republican side reportedly shouted, "baby killer," at Stupak.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn expressed confidence. "We're feeling good, with room to spare," he said before the vote.

“Tonight we will take a significant step toward moving this country forward,” he said during the debate.

Meanwhile in the House, members were making speeches of their own beginning at about 1 p.m., CNN reports.

Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, called the bill a “fiscal Frankenstein,” and urged his colleagues to start over again. No Republicans are expected to vote for the bill, and Republican leaders have promised to make it their top issue in mid-term elections.

“We have failed to listen to America and we have failed to reflect the will of our constituents,” House Minority Leader John Boehner said.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy—who fought for health care reform for decades—drew parallels between the fight for civil rights and health care reform. "Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane," he said, quoting the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

While the speeches were being made, it was still unclear whether Democrats would be able to round up enough of their Democratic colleagues to pass the legislation. Rep. John Larson, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said, “We’ve got the votes.”

House Majority Leader Stenny Hoyer said, “We are going to get the votes this afternoon.”

Obama, who has in large measure bet his presidency on the reform effort, told the House Democratic Caucus Saturday that it was time for them to make health care reform a reality.

“Now, I still know this is a tough vote, though. I know this is a tough vote,” Obama said. “I’ve talked to many of you individually. And I have to say that if you honestly believe in your heart of hearts, in your conscience, that this is not an improvement over the status quo; if despite all the information that’s out there that says that without serious reform efforts like this one people’s premiums are going to double over the next five or 10 years, that folks are going to keep on getting letters from their insurance companies saying that their premium just went up 40 or 50 percent; if you think that somehow it’s okay that we have millions of hardworking Americans who can’t get health care and that it’s all right, it’s acceptable, in the wealthiest nation on Earth that there are children with chronic illnesses that can’t get the care that they need -- if you think that the system is working for ordinary Americans rather than the insurance companies, then you should vote no on this bill. If you can honestly say that, then you shouldn’t support it. You’re here to represent your constituencies and if you think your constituencies honestly wouldn’t be helped, you shouldn’t vote for this.

“But if you agree that the system is not working for ordinary families, if you’ve heard the same stories that I’ve heard everywhere, all across the country, then help us fix this system. Don't do it for me. Don’t do it for Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid. Do it for all those people out there who are struggling.”

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Kent Bernhard Jr. is News Editor of Portfolio.com