US: House vote makes history on health care | Obama delivers 'change' people voted for

Obama Strikes Classy Tone on Most Important Night of his Presidency So Far: President Obama could have been smug. The bill that makes his most prized policy priority a reality, the culmination of more than a year’s work, is making its way to his desk to be signed into law. At the same time he is steadily cutting a path into the history books as the man who presided over the most substantial expansion of social programs since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiatives of the 1960s. Had he failed, his political obituary would have been written ten thousand times over this week. But he didn’t. He could have been gleeful, obnoxiously joyous about this enormous victory. But he wasn’t. He soberly reminded the nation what was at stake tonight.  And behind him, Joe Biden fought back tears. [...MORE]

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | US
Source & Credit: Various News Sources
Compiled by Ahmadiyya Times

Islam & Concept of State:

"Islam regards the state as a shepherd put in charge of a flock, and as a shepherd is bound to protect and look after the flock and provide for all its needs - keeping the sheep from straying, guarding them from the prowling wolf, feeding and housing them, protecting them against pestilence and disease - so it is the duty of the Islamic State to safeguard the people against dissension, disorder, disturbance, and oppression; to secure them from attacks from outside, and to make provision for all their intellectual and material needs. A principal duty of the Islamic State is to safeguard the security of the state, and to maintain its defense arrangements in proper condition (Al-Quran: 3:201, 20:119-120)." [...MORE]

TIME.COM:

Having staked the success of his presidency on the longstanding Democratic dream of universal health care, President Obama finally achieved victory on Sunday night, bringing an end to a year-long partisan struggle. "This legislation will not fix everything that ails our health-care system, but it moves us decisively in the right direction," Obama said shortly after the historic vote. "This is what change looks like." With Democrats chanting the signature line of the Obama presidential campaign — "Yes we can!" — the House voted 219-212 to send a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system to be signed into law. [...MORE]

The Christian Science Monitor:

The House of Representatives passed health care reform late Sunday night on a 219-to-212 vote, which results in President Obama getting to sign into law this week his top domestic priority.

The vote is being touted as the single most significant piece of domestic legislation to be passed by Congress since Medicare in 1965. Though Democrats and Republicans disagreed on whether it was for good or ill, most acknowledged that it was a historic day in American politics.

The $940 billion bill will cover 32 million uninsured Americans and ban the denial of coverage for preexisting conditions, phasing in taxes on the rich to pay for this expansion of coverage.[...MORE]

NPR.ORG:

Capping a year of legislative activity and ending decades of Democratic frustration, the House on Sunday passed a bill that would extend health care coverage to more than 30 million Americans.

Quoting a letter from the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) to President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "Passing health care is the great unfinished business of our country." She added, "That is, until today."[...MORE]

BusinessWeek:

The U.S. House passed the most sweeping health-care legislation in four decades, rewriting the rules governing medical industries and ensuring that tens of millions of uninsured Americans will get medical coverage.

Yesterday’s 219-212 vote marks the biggest victory for President Barack Obama, who will sign the bill into law. Only Democrats voted for the legislation, underscoring a partisan divide that promises to make health care the defining issue in November’s congressional elections.[...MORE]

The Kansas City Star:

In a historic vote Sunday, the House approved and sent to President Barack Obama a bill designed to fundamentally change the nation’s $2.6 trillion health care system.

The vote, 219-212, marked a major milestone in the decades-long debate over national health care reform, but does not quite end the battle. Instead, just moments after approving the bill — which exactly mirrors the Senate bill that passed on Christmas Eve — the House approved a second “reconciliation” bill that would make major changes to the health care blueprint they had just approved. [...MORE]

-- Compiled by Ahmadiyya Times Staff
-- Edited by Imran Jattala