President Obama On the Passage of Health Reform video

President Barack Obama Sunday hailed the House passage of a bill to reform America's system of health care.
Speaking to a group of reporters just before midnight, Obama said the House passage of the Senate reform legislation, which clears the way for Obama to sign the bill, was historic.
"The United States Congress finally declared that America's workers and America's families and America's small businesses deserve the security of knowing that here, in this country, neither illness nor accident should endanger the dreams they've worked a lifetime to achieve," Obama said. "We didn't give in to mistrust or to cynicism or to fear. Instead, we proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things and tackling our biggest challenges."

He added, "We proved that this government, a government of the people and by the people, still works for the people."
Obama thanked the members of Congress who made the difficult vote to make health reform a reality. "I know this wasn't an easy vote for a lot of people, but it was the right vote," he said.
Obama said that the change is not a radical overhaul of the present system, noting that for the vast majority of Americans who get insurance from their employers, little will change.
"But it is major reform," he said. "This legislation will not fix everything that ails our health care system. But it moves us decisively in the right direction. This is what change looks like."
Obama said he hoped to avoid another "siege of parliamentary maneuvering" when a series of technical changes to the bill which also passed the House and will now move on to the Senate.
"It's time to bring this debate to a close and begin the hard work of implementing this reform properly on behalf of the American people," he added, "This year, and in years to come, we have a solemn responsibility to do it right."
Obama also said the enactment of the reform legislation represented another foundational stone being laid in helping achieve the American Dream.
"Tonight, we answered the call of history as so many generations of Americans have before us," he said. "When faced with crisis, we did not shrink from our challenge -- we overcame it."
He added, "We did not avoid our responsibility -- we embraced it. We did not fear our future -- we shaped it."