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Health reform bill passes the Senate!

Posted by: Kate Blocher on Dec 24, 2009

We did it.

At 7:15 a.m. the Senate took the last vote on their version of health insurance reform legislation and passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on a strictly party line vote of 60 top 40.

This is a first-a milestone never before reached in the history of the health reform movement-and it has brought us one step closer to bettering the lives of millions of American families.

This has been a long and arduous journey-one marked by a series of highs and lows. Although the battle is not yet over, passage of the Senate health reform bill means we have cleared the highest hurdle. Victory for the uninsured and underinsured is now within reach.

This day would never have come without the tireless work for affordable, high-quality health care for all. When asked to call, you called. When asked to write, you wrote. And when asked to speak out, you spoke out-loud and clear. You have not only worked to make sure this legislation passed, but also to ensure that it will provide all Americans with access to affordable, quality health care.

But, we're not done yet. Although we have succeeded in passing a bill out of the House and the Senate, we must now ensure that a bill gets through a conference committee and onto the President's desk.

It was a little less than a year ago that another historic moment took place: America swore in its first African American President, Barack Obama. In his inaugural speech, on that cold January day, President Obama said something that still rings true today:

"[I]n this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

So let us go forth and deliver the great gift of health reform. The time has come at last!