House Passes Health Care: A Nation Bitterly Divided

Congressman Bart Stupak earlier announced he would vote for the Bill, removing any doubt of passage.

P>WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - In the final House act before this historic vote, the Minority leader, John Boehner, and the Majority leader, Nancy Pelosi, delivered very different messages to a bitterly divided House of Representatives  Sunday evening.

John Boehner began with these words, "I rise tonight with a sad and heavy heart". He delivered a sober, serious address which evoked a raucous response in the chamber. He told those gathered that they were standing "amidst the wreckage" of a process that was broken. He insisted repeatedly "we have failed America. We have failed to reflect their will."

He asked his colleagues a litany of rhetorical questions about whether they could go home and assure their constituents that they had done their job in the "People´s House". Perhaps the most serious was "Can you go home and tell your constituents that this Bill will protect the sanctity of life?"

Earlier in the evening the Pro-Life Democratic holdout, Congressman Bart Stupak, held a Press conference announcing that he would vote for the Bill. He insisted it was because the President agreed to issue what he called an "extensive" Executive order which he claimed would protect the "sanctity of life" by ensuring that the Hyde Amendment protections would be restored and no Federal money would go toward abortion.

Since that announcement, the legal effect of such an Executive Order has been called into question by constitutional experts. Also, Bart Stupak´s bona fides as a Pro-Life advocate have now been seriously questioned by many. He has already had a Pro-life award stripped from him by the Pro-Life Susan B Anthony Fund.

In the middle of his speech, the Minority leader addressed the Speaker in a raised voice, "Mr. Speaker, in a few minutes we will cast one of the most consequential votes in American history. If we are going to defy the will of the American people we should have a call of the roll. Mr. Speaker will you grant my request for a call of the roll?" He repeated the request three times, but to no avail.

He reminded those present "this is the People´s House." He warned them repeatedly that the "process is broken." At one point he raised his voice and proclaimed, "Shame on us, Shame on this Body, shame on those who substitute their will for the will of the people." He said that the House had "... broken the bonds of trust with the American people" and pleaded with his colleagues "I beg you, do not strike with arrogance at the heart of this Institution".

Next, an obviously elated Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed those gathered. She began with the words "With great humility and great pride...". She claimed that the evening was historic. She insisted that the passage of the legislation honored "the values of our Nation´s founders" as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. She referred several times to the Declaration of Independence and the " Right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness"

Toward the end of her address she referred to the late Senator Ted Kennedy whose commitment to a nationalized health care plan was a lifelong pursuit. She quoted from the letter he had left to be read posthumously. In it, the late Senator referred to such a Nationalized health care Plan as "... the great unfinished business of our society." With obvious elation the Speaker insisted "that is until today."

In the end, the Senate Version of the Health Reform Bill passed a severely divided House of Representatives, 219 - 212. The division in the House was mild compared to the division in the Nation. There is no doubt that history was made Sunday evening, March 21, 2010.

However, the question remains, where will it all lead? There is much more to come.

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