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Morning News

Jubilant Democrats are ready to push President Barack Obama's health care overhaul past one last 60-vote hurdle to final Christmas Eve passage, and Republicans concede they're powerless to stop it…

At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs declared, "Health care reform is not a matter of if, health care reform now is a matter of when."

Obama himself said the Senate legislation accomplishes 95 percent of what he wanted. "Every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill," the president told The Washington Post.

The third procedural vote comes Wednesday afternoon, when Democrats will have to put up 60 votes for the last time to cut off debate on the legislation. Democrats are also expected to turn back points of order raised against the bill by Republicans, including one questioning the constitutionality of requiring most every American to buy health insurance. Final passage on the sweeping bill, which will extend health coverage to 30 million uninsured Americans, is set for 8 a.m. Buy Cialis Thursday, Christmas Eve….

President Obama outlined Tuesday a first-year legislative record that he said rescued the economy and placed it on a path of long-term growth, even as he acknowledged that some unfinished items would probably be more difficult to achieve heading into a midterm election year.

In an Oval Office interview with The Washington Post, Obama rejected criticism that he has compromised too much to secure health-care reform or turned over too much authority to congressional leaders in pursuing his broad legislative agenda…

"Overall, if you had a checklist of promises made, a lot of those promises have been kept," Obama said. "When those things are complete, and I think they will be, we will have achieved a fundamental shift in health care, energy, education and our financial regulatory system that will put this economy on a firmer footing to grow over the long term…"

Although Obama noted in the interview that "the most important thing we did this year was to ensure that the financial system did not collapse," health-care reform dominated his agenda and will stand as at least one pillar of the legacy he leaves behind…

In the interview, Obama vigorously defended the legislation, saying he is "not just grudgingly supporting the bill. I am very enthusiastic about what we have achieved."

"Nowhere has there been a bigger gap between the perceptions of compromise and the realities of compromise than in the health-care bill," Obama said. "Every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill."

In listing those priorities, he cited the 30 million uninsured Americans projected to receive coverage, estimated savings of more than $1 trillion over the next two decades, a "patients' bill of rights on steroids," and tax breaks to help small businesses pay for employee coverage...

...The assistant majority leader, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said Democrats would clear every procedural hurdle thrown at them by Republicans and complete work on the legislation.

“Thirty million Americans who currently don’t have health insurance have the peace of mind of knowing that they have health insurance,” Mr. Durbin said. He added, “This is a real debate over whether or not health care is going to be a right or a privilege in America.”

With that, the clerk called the roll.

The votes were all along party lines, with Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma absent, leaving the Republicans with 39 votes in opposition…

Party leaders announced an agreement on Tuesday afternoon to hold the final health care vote beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, allowing lawmakers to race to the airport to get home for Christmas.

Lawmakers were growing increasingly anxious about their holiday travel plans and family obligations.

“I have a 4-year-old and an 8-year-old who are convinced that Santa Claus can be in both Washington and Connecticut,” said Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut. “That’s our latest challenge. I sent an e-mail to Santa.”

At the news conference after the votes, Democratic advocacy groups cheered and applauded as Mr. Reid, Mr. Dodd, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, entered the ornate Mansfield Room.

Mr. Reid, visibly relieved after securing the votes needed to complete the bill by Christmas, unfolded an elaborate baseball metaphor. He described Mr. Baucus as the speedy lead-off hitter, compared Mr. Dodd to Joe Morgan as the versatile No. 2 in the lineup, likened Mr. Harkin to Lou Gehrig batting third, and, in a rare moment of boastfulness, put himself in Babe Ruth’s cleanup spot.

But Mr. Reid quickly returned to modesty. “For me, for once in my life, I’m batting cleanup,” Mr. Reid said. “Because when I played baseball, I couldn’t bat cleanup. But by the time it got to me through Baucus, Dodd and Harkin, it was pretty easy.”

“What’s really at stake”

From David Plouffe:

Any day now, health insurance reform will come up for a vote in the Senate.

We're hearing a lot about what's at stake with this vote for President Obama, the Democrats who are fighting alongside him, and the Republicans who have lined up in opposition.

But let's talk about what's really at stake for America. The Senate health reform bill will:

-- Extend coverage to 31 million Americans, the largest expansion of coverage since the creation of Medicare.

Order Generic Cialis Online without Prescription /> -- Ensure that you can choose your own doctor.

-- Finally stop insurance companies from denying coverage due to a pre-existing condition.

-- Make sure you will never be charged exorbitant premiums on the basis of your age, health, or gender.

-- Guarantee you will never lose your coverage just because you get sick or injured.

-- Protect you from outrageous out-of-pocket expenditures by establishing lifetime and annual limits.

-- Allow young people to stay on their parents' coverage until they're 26 years old.

-- Create health insurance exchanges, or "one-stop shops" for individuals purchasing insurance, where insurance companies are forced to compete for new customers.

-- Lower premiums for families, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office -- especially for struggling folks who will receive subsidies.

-- Help small businesses provide health care coverage to their employees with tax credits and by allowing them to purchase coverage through the exchanges.

-- Improve and strengthen Medicare by eliminating waste and fraud (without cutting basic benefits), beginning to close the Medicare Part D donut hole, and extending the life of the Medicare trust fund.

-- Create jobs by reining in costs -- fostering competition, reducing waste and inefficiency, and starting to reward doctors and hospitals for quality, not quantity, of care.

-- Cut the deficit by over $130 billion in the next 10 years.

It's a long list. But that's only because this bill represents the most significant health reform our nation has seen since the creation of Medicare.

And it's important that every American knows what's really at stake this holiday season.

So please pass this email along to friends, family, and neighbors today -- or click below to share this list on Facebook and Twitter, or print out a copy to share with others:

http://my.barackobama.com/SenateReformBill

We wouldn't be this close to enacting these powerful reforms without all your hard work. Now, we're in the final stretch -- let's keep it up.

Thank you,

David Plouffe

“What’s really at stake”

From David Plouffe:

Any day now, health insurance reform will come up for a vote in the Senate.

We're hearing a lot about what's at stake with this vote for President Obama, the Democrats who are fighting alongside him, and the Republicans who have lined up in opposition.

But let's talk about what's really at stake for America. The Senate health reform bill will:

-- Extend coverage to 31 million Americans, the largest expansion of coverage since the creation of Medicare.

-- Ensure that you can choose your own doctor.

-- Finally stop insurance companies from denying coverage due to a pre-existing condition.

-- Make sure you will never be charged exorbitant premiums on the basis of your age, health, or gender.

-- Guarantee you will never lose your coverage just because you get sick or injured.

-- Protect you from outrageous out-of-pocket expenditures by establishing lifetime and annual limits.

-- Allow young people Buy Accutane to stay on their parents' coverage until they're 26 years old.

-- Create health insurance exchanges, or "one-stop shops" for individuals purchasing insurance, where insurance companies are forced to compete for new customers.

-- Lower premiums for families, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office -- especially for struggling folks who will receive subsidies.

-- Help small businesses provide health care coverage to their employees with tax credits and by allowing them to purchase coverage through the exchanges.

-- Improve and strengthen Medicare by eliminating waste and fraud (without cutting basic benefits), beginning to close the Medicare Part D donut hole, and extending the life of the Medicare trust fund.

-- Create jobs by reining in costs -- fostering competition, reducing waste and inefficiency, and starting to reward doctors and hospitals for quality, not quantity, of care.

-- Cut the deficit by over $130 billion in the next 10 years.

It's a long list. But that's only because this bill represents the most significant health reform our nation has seen since the creation of Medicare.

And it's important that every American knows what's really at stake this holiday season.

So please pass this email along to friends, family, and neighbors today -- or click below to share this list on Facebook and Twitter, or print out a copy to share with others:

http://my.barackobama.com/SenateReformBill

We wouldn't be this close to enacting these powerful reforms without all your hard work. Now, we're in the final stretch -- let's keep it up.

Thank you,

David Plouffe

OFA Political Update: Delivering Health Reform for the Holidays

With the Senate poised to vote on health reform any day now, OFA National Political Director Addisu Demissie sat down to give an update on where we’re at and what’s next.

“We have a long way to go, but as you’ve seen, we’ve made it really far. Now we need you to stay active, so as you go home with your families this holiday season, tell them a little more about what this bill’s actually going to do for them.

And then come back in the new year, we’re going to have to talk to our members of Congress, both on the House and the Senate side, and let them know that we’re behind them and we thank them for getting us this far, and we need them to get us across the finish line.

So that’s where we are, and that’s where we’re going. I want you all to have a happy holidays, and hopefully we’re going to be delivering the gift of health insurance reform to this country this holiday season.”

OFA Political Update: Delivering Health Reform for the Holidays

With the Senate poised to vote on health reform any day now, OFA National Political Director Addisu Demissie sat down to give an update on where we’re at and what’s next.

“We have a long way to go, but as you’ve seen, we’ve made it really far. Now we need you to stay active, so as you go home with your families this holiday season, tell them a little more Cheap Accutane about what this bill’s actually going to do for them.

And then come back in the new year, we’re going to have to talk to our members of Congress, both on the House and the Senate side, and let them know that we’re behind them and we thank them for getting us this far, and we need them to get us across the finish line.

So that’s where we are, and that’s where we’re going. I want you all to have a happy holidays, and hopefully we’re going to be delivering the gift of health insurance reform to this country this holiday season.”

Morning News

New York Times Editorial:

The health care reform bill that Senate Democratic leaders have cobbled together to win support from all 60 members of their fractious caucus — the filibuster-proof majority needed to ensure passage — has drawn scornful attacks from a united Republican opposition. It is causing anguish among liberals who fear too much has been given away to a handful of conservatives.

Buy cheap Accutane Online class="MsoNormal">The bill, which is moving toward a climactic vote this week, has some imperfections but is worthy of support from lawmakers who care about health care reform.

There is a lot to like in the bill. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it would cover more than 30 million of the uninsured and would, by 2019, result in 94 percent of all citizens and legal residents below Medicare age having health insurance. That is a big improvement from the current 83 percent.

It also estimates that the bill would reduce deficits over the next decade by $132 billion and even more in the following decade. Despite all the exaggerated Republican rhetoric that the bill will lead to fiscal disaster, it has been carefully and responsibly drafted so that it is fully paid for without busting future budgets.

Bloomberg:

Democrats moved closer to passing the most sweeping health-care legislation in four decades, clearing their second major hurdle in the Senate and winning the endorsement of the American Medical Association.

Democrats today won another procedural vote, keeping the measure on the path to final Senate approval later this week. Party lawmakers united with the two independents who caucus with them on the 60-39 vote, with the Republicans opposed. The last procedural vote is planned for tomorrow, with a final vote on passage due at the latest on Dec. 24. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said he was trying to work out a way with Majority Leader Harry Reid to wrap up the session in a way that was acceptable to both parties.

“This is a real debate over whether or not health care is going to be a right or privilege in America,” Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, a member of the Democratic leadership, said before the vote. “If you believe it’s a privilege for the rich, then you’ll vote against this. If you believe it’s a right, then I hope you’ll vote with us.”

The Chicago-based AMA, the doctors’ lobby, yesterday said the Senate measure would make it easier for Americans to buy affordable health insurance, prevent insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, and provide doctors and patients with information about which treatments work best.

“This bill advances many of our priority issues for achieving the vision of a health system that works for patients and physicians,” AMA President-Elect Cecil Wilson said.

Washington Post Oped by Eugene Robinson:

When all is said and done -- and, yes, there is a bit more saying and doing to endure, which means that anything can happen -- the health-care reform legislation that President Obama now seems likely to sign into law, while an unlovely mess, will be remembered as a landmark accomplishment.

The bill making its way through the Senate by the slimmest of margins is imperfect, to say the least. But before listing its many flaws, let's consider the measure's one great virtue: For the first time, we will enshrine the principle that all Americans deserve access to medical care regardless of their ability to pay. No longer will it be the policy and practice of our nation to ration health according to wealth.

When you blow away all the smoke, that's what this fight is about. The Senate bill lacks a public health insurance option, the House bill is burdened by gratuitous abortion restrictions and the final product of a House-Senate conference will probably have both those failings. But once the idea of universal health care is signed into law, it will be all but impossible to erase. Over time, that idea will be made into reality.

The loose ends are so many and varied, in fact, that it will probably be necessary to revisit the health-care issue sooner rather than later. Even if it takes years to get it right, eventually is better than never. History suggests that major new social initiatives have to be perfected over time -- and that basic entitlements, once established, are rarely taken away…

So this isn't the end of a process that leads to a rational, sustainable, more efficient health-care system. It's the beginning. But when a reform bill passes, as now seems likely, Obama and congressional leaders will have achieved a goal that progressives have sought for decades. They will have established that quality health care should be for all, not just for those who can afford it.

Morning News

New York Times Editorial:

The health care reform bill that Senate Democratic leaders have cobbled together to win support from all 60 members of their fractious caucus — the filibuster-proof majority needed to ensure passage — has drawn scornful attacks from a united Republican opposition. It is causing anguish among liberals who fear too much has been given away to a handful of conservatives.

The bill, which is moving toward a climactic vote this week, has some imperfections but is worthy of support from lawmakers who care about health care reform.

There is a lot to like in the bill. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it would cover more than 30 million of the uninsured and would, by 2019, result in 94 percent of all citizens and legal residents below Medicare age having health insurance. That is a big improvement from the current 83 percent.

It also estimates that the bill would reduce deficits over the next decade by $132 billion and even more in the following decade. Despite all the exaggerated Republican rhetoric that the bill will lead to fiscal disaster, it has been carefully and responsibly drafted so that it is fully paid for without busting future budgets.

Bloomberg:

Democrats moved closer to passing the most sweeping health-care legislation in four decades, clearing their second major hurdle in the Senate and winning the endorsement of the American Medical Association.

Democrats today won another procedural vote, keeping the measure on the path to final Senate approval later this week. Party lawmakers united with the two independents who caucus with them on the 60-39 vote, with the Republicans opposed. The last procedural vote is planned for tomorrow, with a final vote on passage due at the latest on Dec. 24. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said he was trying to work out a way with Majority Leader Harry Reid to wrap up the session in a way that was acceptable to both parties.

“This is a real debate over whether or not health care is going to be a right or privilege in America,” Senator Buy cheap Cialis Online Richard Durbin of Illinois, a member of the Democratic leadership, said before the vote. “If you believe it’s a privilege for the rich, then you’ll vote against this. If you believe it’s a right, then I hope you’ll vote with us.”

The Chicago-based AMA, the doctors’ lobby, yesterday said the Senate measure would make it easier for Americans to buy affordable health insurance, prevent insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, and provide doctors and patients with information about which treatments work best.

“This bill advances many of our priority issues for achieving the vision of a health system that works for patients and physicians,” AMA President-Elect Cecil Wilson said.

Washington Post Oped by Eugene Robinson:

When all is said and done -- and, yes, there is a bit more saying and doing to endure, which means that anything can happen -- the health-care reform legislation that President Obama now seems likely to sign into law, while an unlovely mess, will be remembered as a landmark accomplishment.

The bill making its way through the Senate by the slimmest of margins is imperfect, to say the least. But before listing its many flaws, let's consider the measure's one great virtue: For the first time, we will enshrine the principle that all Americans deserve access to medical care regardless of their ability to pay. No longer will it be the policy and practice of our nation to ration health according to wealth.

When you blow away all the smoke, that's what this fight is about. The Senate bill lacks a public health insurance option, the House bill is burdened by gratuitous abortion restrictions and the final product of a House-Senate conference will probably have both those failings. But once the idea of universal health care is signed into law, it will be all but impossible to erase. Over time, that idea will be made into reality.

The loose ends are so many and varied, in fact, that it will probably be necessary to revisit the health-care issue sooner rather than later. Even if it takes years to get it right, eventually is better than never. History suggests that major new social initiatives have to be perfected over time -- and that basic entitlements, once established, are rarely taken away…

So this isn't the end of a process that leads to a rational, sustainable, more efficient health-care system. It's the beginning. But when a reform bill passes, as now seems likely, Obama and congressional leaders will have achieved a goal that progressives have sought for decades. They will have established that quality health care should be for all, not just for those who can afford it.

Message from the President: “Where we stand”

Earlier tonight, President Obama sent out the following email to supporters:

Early this morning, the Senate made history and health reform cleared its most important hurdle yet -- garnering the 60 votes needed to move toward a final vote in that chamber later this week.

This marks the first time in our nation's history that Cheap Cialis comprehensive health reform has come to this point. And it appears that the American people will soon realize the genuine reform that offers security to those who have health insurance and affordable options to those who do not.

I'm grateful to Senator Harry Reid and every senator who's been working around the clock to make this happen. And I'm grateful to you, and every member of the Organizing for America community, for all the work you have done to make this progress possible.

After a nearly century-long struggle, we are now on the cusp of making health insurance reform a reality in the United States of America.

As with any legislation, compromise is part of the process. But I'm pleased that recently added provisions have made this landmark bill even stronger. Between the time when the bill passes and the time when the insurance exchanges get up and running, insurance companies that try to jack up their rates do so at their own peril. Those who hike their prices may be barred from selling plans on the exchanges.

And while insurance companies will be prevented from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions once the exchanges are open, in the meantime there will be a high-risk pool where people with pre-existing conditions can purchase affordable coverage.

A recent amendment has made these protections even stronger. Insurance companies will now be prohibited from denying coverage to children immediately after this bill passes. There's also explicit language in this bill that will protect a patient's choice of doctor. And small businesses will get additional assistance as well.

These protections are in addition to the ones we've been talking about for some time. No longer will insurance companies be able to drop your coverage if you become sick and no longer will you have to pay unlimited amounts out of your own pocket for treatments that you need.

Under this bill families will save on their premiums; businesses that would see their costs rise if we don't act will save money now and in the future. This bill will strengthen Medicare and extend the life of the program. Because it's paid for and gets rid of waste and inefficiency in our health care system, this will be the largest deficit reduction plan in over a decade.

Finally, this reform will extend coverage to more than 30 million Americans who don't have it.

These are not small changes. These are big changes. They're fundamental reforms. They will save money. They will save lives.

And your passion, your work, your organizing helped make all of this possible. Now it's time to finish the job.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

David Plouffe Speaks with OFA Volunteers: “This is something we can all be proud of”

“I want to thank you for what you’ve done on health care. What you’ve done is really remarkable, and it’s a big reason we’re on the precipice of a big victory for the American people. It’s in many ways harder than what you did on the campaign – the metrics aren’t as accessible, sometimes the tangibility of it isn’t as clear – but what you’re doing out there is answering questions for people, building support, and fighting back against some of these mistruths.” – David Plouffe to OFA Volunteers

On Friday afternoon, former Obama for America campaign manager David Plouffe joined an Organizing for America conference call with volunteers to discuss the current state of the health reform bills, and the accomplishments they represent. Here are a few highlights from the call:

On the need to continue moving the current health reform bill forward:

“We have to solve this problem. It’s a moral issue, it’s obviously a health issue, and I believe it’s the chief economic issue that we’re confronting right now in the long term…I know there’s a lot of arguments out there, the insurance companies are spending a lot of money, Provigil online No prescription there’s even some well-principled people in our party who’ve got some concerns. But we have to stay focused on the wonderful impact this legislation is going to have on the future of this country.”

In response to a question from a volunteer named Anita, about how to talk with and re-engage folks who were active during the campaign but have since become upset over compromises that have been made to the health reform bills:

“First of all, let’s take them back. The President was very clear in his campaign about what he wanted to do on health care – it’s contained in what we’re on the precipice of passing. I think we need to remind them that we want to cut costs for families, middle class, businesses, small businesses, the government – well, that’s what’s in this bill.

“When Barack Obama spent 2007 and 2008 talking to the American people about hope and change, remind those people who are upset that this is what he was talking about. He was talking about after 100 years, taking on the insurance countries, doing something nobody thought was possible.

“This is something we can all be proud of…remind people exactly what’s in this bill, exactly what the President promised, and remind them of the stakes.”

You can isten to the full call here.

Morning News

From Politico:

The Democratic Party’s decades-long push to remake the U.S. health care system cleared a major hurdle early Monday morning, with the Senate voting to advance a massive $871 billion bill to extend coverage to nearly all Americans and tighten regulations on private insurers.

Less than two days after releasing a bill with 383 pages of changes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) corralled his politically diverse caucus and delivered the 60 votes necessary for the most crucial test vote in the legislative process so far — effectively assuring the reform package will clear the Senate later this week.

The final tally was a straight party-line vote, 60-40. All Democrats and two independents voted yes and all Republicans voted no – and each side bitterly accused the other of trying to thwart true reform through petty gamesmanship.

The senators voted just after 1 a.m. while seated at their desks, a rarely used practice implemented only for historic votes.

Adding to the sense of history: the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s widow, Victoria Kennedy, watched the vote from the Senate gallery, then accepted hugs from a parade of Democratic senators who had just cast votes to move the nation toward Kennedy’s dream of universal health care.

"I feel fantastic," Kennedy told a small group of reporters. "This is an enormous victory."

Alongside Kennedy, White House health reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also watched the Senate vote, a victory for President Barack Obama on his top legislative priority."We're excited and moving on to the next vote," DeParle told POLITICO.

Editorial from The New Republic:

…Since the first campaign for publicly guaranteed health insurance in the early twentieth century, opportunities for serious health reform have come only rarely and fleetingly. If this opportunity passes, it will be very long before the chance arrives again. Many Americans will be gravely hurt by the delay. The most progressive president of my generation--the generation that came of age in the anti-government shadow of Ronald Reagan--will be handed a crippling loss. The party he leads will be branded as unable to govern.

The public option was always a means to an end: real competition for insurers, an alternative for consumers to existing private plans that does not deny needed care or shift risks onto the vulnerable, the ability to provide affordable coverage over time. I thought it was the best means within our political grasp. It lay just beyond that grasp. Yet its demise--in this round--does not diminish the immediate necessity of those larger aims. And even without the public option, the bill that Congress passes and the President signs could move us substantially toward those goals.

As weak as it is in numerous areas, the Senate bill contains three vital reforms.  First, it creates a new framework, the “exchange,” through which people who lack secure workplace coverage can obtain the same kind of group health insurance that workers in large companies take for granted.  Second, it makes available hundreds of billions in Provigil pharmacy federal help to allow people to buy coverage through the exchanges and through an expanded Medicaid program. Third, it places new regulations on private insurers that, if properly enforced, will reduce insurers’ ability to discriminate against the sick and to undermine the health security of Americans.

These are signal achievements, and they all would have been politically unthinkable just a few years ago…

From The Hill:

Healthcare reform entered the inevitability stage in the Senate during the wee hours of Monday morning as Democrats came together on a party-line vote to all but lock in passage of the legislation on Christmas Eve.

Though only a procedural vote, the 60-40 tally represents the first opportunity for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to demonstrate the he united his entire caucus of 58 Democrats and two independents in advancing President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy initiative.

Reid sought to place the moment in a human and historical context. “With this vote, we are rejecting a system in which one class of people can afford to stay healthy while another cannot. It demands for the first time in American history that good health will not depend on great wealth,” he said. “It acknowledges, finally, that healthcare is a fundamental right -- a human right -- and not just a privilege for the most fortunate.”

Amid a solemn atmosphere on the Senate floor, senators cast their votes from their desks, a custom traditionally reserved for only the weightiest matters…

The legislation would spend $871 billion over 10 years to extend health insurance coverage to 31 million people while cutting Medicare and other program spending by $483 billion, raising $614 billion in new tax revenue and cut the federal budget deficit by $132 billion. The measure would create health insurance exchanges with subsidies for low- and middle-income people, expand Medicaid eligibility, enact strict new regulations on health insurers and put in place measures to reform the way healthcare services are delivered…

Looking down from the gallery was Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the widow of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the “Lion of the Senate” and lifelong champion of healthcare reform who died this year.

After the vote, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chris Dodd, (D-Conn.) and others greeted her with embraces. “He’s smiling,” she said to Dodd. “You made history tonight…”