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Volume 6
Issue 35
Nov. 11 - 17, 2009

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Obama says it’s now Senate’s turn on health care

By Erica Werner
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Sunday it was time for the Senate to “take the baton” on health care reform after the House passed its plan for overhauling the nation’s health care system.

“For years we’ve been told that this couldn’t be done,” Obama said in a brief statement from the Rose Garden. “But last night the House proved different.”

Congresswoman Barbara Lee greets President Barack Obama last weekend. The two discussed
the historic health care bill prior to the vote by the House, which passed 220-215.

The Democratic-controlled House on Saturday narrowly passed the far-reaching legislation, 220-215, but the road ahead in the Senate promises to be rocky. The president said the House vote took courage for many lawmakers because of the heated and often misleading rhetoric that accompanied debate over how the change the system.

“Now it falls on the United States Senate to take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people, and I'm absolutely confident that they will,” Obama said. “I’m equally convinced that on the day that we gather here at the White House and I sign comprehensive health insurance reform legislation into law, they’ll be able to join their House colleagues and say this was their finest moment in public service.”

Republican lawmakers have vowed to do all they can to stop the Democratic plan, which they contend will cost jobs, raise insurance rates and lead to huge tax increases. The Senate has yet to schedule debate on its version of health care reform.

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