Hold the tickertape. STOP. Senatorial shenannigans imminent. STOP. Stay tuned. STOP.

Thanks in no small part to folks such as yourself, Steve, who relentlessly, fearlessly, found one single point, one mantra, that helped keep the debate alive.

"Pass. The. Damn. Bill" joins "It's the Economy, Stupid" as a war cry that helped get the job done.

Take a bow, Steve!

Single Payer Now!

Yes. And. There is a great deal of work to be done improving on this foundation. Those of us who are unsatisfied have been told, "support this, and we can improve on it when it becomes law." Okay then. Can we expect work to begin Tuesday morning? Congratulations, yes, *and* the work continues. It must.

Cherish this moment; they don't come often.

After we hit 216 last night, I listened to the concluding movement of Beethoven's 5th - anything less wouldn't have come near to capturing how I felt.

And then I listened to it again. I'll have it running through my head all day.

We passed the damned bill. (Essentially) universal health care is on the way. Amazing.

Hey, where is everyone? Sleeping in from watching the historic legislation pass late last night?

Doesn't anyone want to gloat?

Revel in it?

Any "I told you so's?"

I'm just smitten with satisfaction but there's still plenty to do ahead of us.

Obama and the dems continue to impress. The GOP continues to choose fear, lies, stupid, nonsense, etc.

I think the high water mark of the conservative backlash was Scott Brown's election. But after that event, the opposition has slowly gotten weaker.

I do believe that this bill will be a great issue for Democrats to run on - not against. And that is the greatest Republican fear. We all know that if the Republicans really believed that health care was a poison pill for Democrats, they would have be gleeful about its passage. They are very nervous now. Passage of this bill will energize liberals, win over independents who want it, split the tea-bag contingent who will conclude that the Republicans are ineffectual or embrace them and urge them to lead the revolt. Either way, it's a lose-lose for many GOP lawmakers.

Thanks Steve. At one point I wanted to scrap the damn bill. That would have put us back to ground zero. Now we have a start to build on. Next stop Medicare for everybody over 55.

In the meantime, lets put America back to work. The American dream is flickeriing. It is time we bluilt it into a raging flame.

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My oh my what a wonderful day
Plenty of hair shirts headin' my way
Oh wait their republicans ...
He he he
Plenty of nihlists heading my our way
the uppity stuck on
the yucki fear song
Zipped them from relevance
Zippity day

I am ecstatic. There was a time, a few months ago, when I was about as low as you can go. The Democrats had an unprecedented 60 votes in the Senate. But then, in the face of uncompromising Republican opposition, it seemed that even 60 votes wasn't enough to do anything. This turn-around made my day, my week, my month and my year. I'm hoping that those who opposed this bill from the left can at least take some satisfaction in the fact that the right wing ideologues did not get their way.

Many thanks, Steve, for hitting your PTDB mantra hard, each and every day. We're all in your debt.

Superb.

Several months ago, our President made a prime time news conference where his non-support of Single Payer and Public Option made ever so many Progressives, including myself, despondent. No, I do not think he was playing a three dimensional chess game with the end game in site. However, at some point, he realized he had to, finally, step into the middle of negotiations in order to save his presidency. He, at last, became a fighter To his credit, he joined with the finest Speaker of the House we have witnessed in generations and took the fight to the enemy. Kudos to Speaker Pelosi and to our President. Now, Reid, show us you are Half the Giant, Pelosi is and carry this through.

Had only Obama been able to play for my beloved Jayhawks and block that last three pointer by Ali, my weekend would have been complete.

But, Ron Byers is, absolutely, correct - Bring back Jobs to this nation and do so with utmost speed.

Thanks for never giving up, Steve.

Has the time, finally, come to realize not to let our enemy, the RepuGs, keep their rifles and mules for spring planting?

i am so happy. i can rest easy now knowing that some of my friends and at least 3 kids will have health insurance inspite of the AZ repub state legislature cutting 300,000 adults and 47,000 kids from AZ's version of medicde.

also, during this 'debate' the repubs losf my dad who as he watched the process became and became disgusted with the repubs said, 'i can't belive i voted republican all these years..' He cannot be the only one.

(Now that we've got our death panels, when do we get to start nominating Republicans? OK, sorry, that was in bad taste.) There's lots of work still to do, but gosh, this feels good. And I just love the federalization of the student loan program. Hopefully we can do exactly the same for the health program, but in considerably less time.

But now the REALLY heavy lifting begins. You think those FEMA concentration camps are gonna build themselves? Who's gonna fly the black helicopters? And rounding up those grannies won't be easy -- some of them are feisty!

Roll up your sleeves, progressives!

This is, of course, a political victory for President Obama, and a triumph for Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker. But it is also a victory for America's soul. In the end, a vicious, unprincipled fear offensive failed to block reform. This time, fear struck out.

Beautiful.

Next up: Sign the damn bill!

Coming soon: Fix the damn law.

Some of us have learned the hard way not to CELEBRATE too soon...now the real work must begin to fine tune the letgislation and move ahead for REAL REFORM...sad it took our president and DEMS to note that Repuglicans were irrelevant (as they should be) and get on with doing what is RIGHT...Not that for a moment I believe every Democrat is truly committed to making decisions that benefit ALL PEOPLE...wouldn't it be LOVERLY!11

For me, the big question is whether conservatives will finally get around to finding out what was in the bill, or if they'll continue to attack a plan that never existed. You'd think at some point they'll realize that the government didn't just take over a sixth of our economy, but you never know with these people.

I think our mantra moving forward should probably be: "Elections Have Results." We're going to need to remember that in the coming two years.

I'd like to echo the thanks to Steve Benen for his focus on the issue.

As for the rest of us, passage of health insurance reform was a big win. Republicans can't stand feeling like losers. The GOP leadership went all in on their obstructionism in the hopes of killing the bill, but they failed. And the higher the Republicans tried to raise the stakes -- and I'll admit, it seemed several times as if the Democrats would cave to their feckless instincts -- the greater their failure will be when Obama signs this landmark legislation into law.

History teaches us that the incumbent's party loses seats in a midterm. Recent history teaches us that the so-called "liberal media" will portray the loss of even a single seat as a massive repudiation of Democrats. But I just started feeling a whole lot more confident about the midterms, while the Republicans right now are feeling nothing but spleen.

Just want to add my thanks along the lines of kevmo and others -- truly, the work Steve has done (along with those at TPM) has truly held the administration's and Congress' feet to the fire on this issue. Thank you, Steve, for keeping the focus and helping in no small way to herd the Democratic cats in Congress! Thank heavens for the internets.

Don't worry about the FEMA concentration camps. The Bush-era contingency plans are still in the files and I'm pretty sure Haliburton is still contractually obligated to build them. Quite the dilemma for them, actually. On one hand, they know their management will be the first occupants, but, geez, it's just such a fat, sweet, juicy no-bid? What's an Evil Corporation of Supervillians to do?

Given fear's long winning streak, that's no small feat, especially on a scale so grand.

You are so right, Mr.Benen, as is Krugman...as is John Nichols at the Nation about the health care bill as a new act on the American stage comme Le Sécurité Sociale.

I especially liked Obama's comments (of which i missed the first 3 minutes, via CSPAN on the Internets) in constantly kicking the insurance companies in the teeth.

More of that please as we go thru making this crappy bill do the stuff, you know, that Nancy and them said it would do last night before and after the vote...

The Dims are still breathing, and there's more than a glimmer of hope that most of them will continue to work for a decent society in this country. (And now we don't hafta start with health care -- but we do hafta finish the job...)

I've just hung Old Glory on my front porch to celebrate this tremendous accomplishment. USA!USA!USA! Thanks Steve, for your yeoman's effort throughout this long ordeal.

The whole point of the threat of Senate Shenannagans was to prevent the House vote. Now that the current Senate bill can become law without further intervention, the motivation to block the reconcilliation bill can't remain. Do Senate Republicans want to come out FOR the Cornhusker Kickback?

Say what you want about the shortcomings of the bill, sometimes you just have to beat the bastards. We beat the bastards for a change. We can clean things up later.

So to all dem/OFA/DSCC/DCCC operatives. I am hereby leaving my Aug-Oct 2012 open so I can work in a swing state. IF this hadn't passed, I was done with you. good work. Now keep at it. pass legislation that helps the country.

As a number of posters have observed, the fight has just begun and there are going to be a number of issues and battles to be fought after this bill is signed into law.

The first hurdle will be to appoint REAL regulators who will rip a new asshole into the first insurance company that trys to play cute. NO INDUSTRY STOOGES, PLEASE.

The legacy and longevity of this law will also depend on the efficient and fair administration of its provisions. Citizens need to start feeling a benefit quickly to build a critical mass of public opinion.

My hope is that the good parts are implemented quickly and the bad parts (and there are quite a few) are removed as soon as possible.

THEY.PASSED.THE.DAMN.BILL!!!

Still feels good to say that, and will for a long time. Glad I got on board with Steve and others who realized that starting over simply wasn't an option, as imperfect as this bill is.
Our foot is in the door, now we need to support Grayson and everyone else who wants to add a Medicare buy-in and public option--attach it to every damn piece of legislation that they pass until they get it!

YES

WE

DID!!

Congrats to Madame Speaker Pelosi, President Obama, and Steve, who kept things going when it seemed hopeless - and got the job done.

Btw, has anyone else been having "time-out" problems getting on-site today?

And, the initial count before the vote was 220 in favor, but we only got 219. Who whelched?

THANK YOU STEVE! Your eloquence and determination helped keep this thing alive during some pretty dark days. You're in the history books now, my brother.

Wow, it's the day after the passage of health care reform, and the sky has not fallen, the earth is still spinning on it's axis, and unless you're a student in a public school in Texas, you won't be forced into any commie indoctrination.

It's a good day to be an American!

Doesn't Steve deserve credit for coining "Pass the Damn Bill"? That was critical, as was its relentless pursuit here.

Now we have to demonstrate to skeptical Americans all the important parts of the bill they will realize they like before November. Reviving talk of the public option or Grayson's Medicare Buy-in may be important, too, for distinguishing Democrats from Neanderthal Republicans. The objective? Not merely preventing a bloodbath in November, put positively turning it around and gaining seats, so more important work can be done. We should be able to paint every single Republican in the country as, indeed, Neanderthal Republicans who, frankly, don't give a damn about you. After this, there is no such thing as a "moderate Republican" or a "centrist Republican." Every one of them is bowing to Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, and every one of them, every damned one of them, should be driven from office.

In order to restore a two-party system, usually better than a one-party system, the Democrats can split up into progressive and conservative factions. But the Republican Party per se, for the good of the American people, deserves to die.

to extrapolate further upon what krugman and some commentors here said, i think we all should give ourselves a pat on the back and congratulations.

i truly believe the jerks in washington (and one of them is named "obama") would have been happy to let this die last fall, if not for the continued insistence by concerned citizens, bloggers, and other americans, who constantly called their reps, wrote letters and called the media, and generally insisted that this issue kept being revisited.

we are all winners today. sure, folks like pelosi were in the trenches doing the heavy lifting, but more than one representative had their vote changed by the number of phone calls to their offices, i believe.

good for us all!

Brilliant analysis. This bill stinks BECAUSE it extends TODAY'S health insurance.

People who have never studied economics miss the argument from word one: Insurance IS the problem!

Imagine insurance -- paying a monthly rate in exchange for heavily discounted or "free" provision of other products:
Gasoline.
Food.
Bubble gum.

I each case, as with health services, the same thing happens: Overconsumption. All the talk of "pools" etc BREAKS DOWN COMPLETELY WHEN THE SERVICES ARE SOMETHING PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANT.

Individual incentives to purchase only what is "worth it" are destroyed. Restless legs? Take a pill! Power chair? Free from the Scooter Store! Are they "worth" -- is the benefit to the individual -- more than the cost? WHO CARES WHEN SOMEONE ELSE IS PICKING UP THE TAB!

Health insurance would WORK when it only covers things PEOPLE DON'T WANT:
Splenectomy yes. Chiropractry no.
Chemotherapy yes. Aromatherapy no.

Nobody sane wants "free" radiation therapy. So it's an insurable risk -- there is no INDUCED DEMAND simply by being "covered."

It is the INDUCED DEMAND that's bankrupting the system. Drug companies know this -- they WANT "Insurance for all."

Most health spending is palliative. This should be paid out-of-pocket -- preferable with pre-tax dollars from Health Savings Accounts. Catastrophic coverage would take care of those expensive, nasty thing NOBODY WANTS.

Chronic conditions, especially congenital, should be subsidized out of compassion IMO.

By not addressing INSURANCE as ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM, this process, bill and law is a farce. That's why it does nothing (per CBO) to reduce PREMIUMS or SPENDING. It only SHIFTS costs from employers the government to taxpayers ... BUYING VOTES with TAXPAYER DOLLARS.

Real reform may come ... but this isn't it.

Ron Byers@8:26 : Next stop Medicare for everybody over 55.

You need a comma there, Ron. Just be careful where you put it. :-)

One promise no one can claim Obama has even attempted to fulfill - and that is pulling the country together. Right and Left are split in two, with gloating and belittling on one side, lawsuits and anger on the other. There was no attempt to make this a uniting package - a few hours of air time with Obama reminding the county that he won, that he was president - . . .

I only wish his make or break issue was to allow private citizens who want to work with the tools to create new jobs - - to enrich their families with their own two hands - - to pay for the health care they desired with what they earned.

I personally am quite unimpressed with a few billion in savings for the country over a ten year period, when Dubya spent over $800 billion in a single pen stroke and was followed by Obama spending $787 billion in a single pen stroke.

I pray for unity in this country - I don't think the President cares about that issue

"I pray for unity in this country - I don't think the President cares about that issue"
Posted by: Monica on March 22, 2010 at 7:28 PM

And once again we have the usual question when dealing with Publicans and self-styled "conservatives" (since there is nothing at all "conservative" about these people and their political and policy preferences -- whatever Rush, Glenn, and FoxNews tell them they are for today):
are they truly so out of touch with objective reality (and possessed of zero memory for anything before the immediate moment), are they knowingly lying through their teeth, or are they just painfully stupid?
My guess is all three...
As Mr Benen (and every other honest blogger, pundit, analyst, etc) has noted many times, Obama and the Congressional Dem's went far beyond what many would consider reasonable in compromising with the Republicans.
They negotiated with themselves in advance of engaging Republicans and thus didn't even consider a single-payer option, despite the repetitively proven fact that vast majorities (over 65% in all polls, over 70% in many) of Americans want that -- including a plurality of self-identified Republican voters.
They gave away the public option -- universally regarded as the best way to keep the insurance firms "honest," and the most powerful cost-control mechanism, only to have the Pubbies then complain that there were insufficient cost controls.
They included significant concessions on tort/malpractice awards, despite the proof (from both a dozen states' experiences with having enacted same, and the numbers from every serious study) that the added costs of malpractice awards are no more than 5% of the total cost of health care.
Sen Baucus allowed the "gang" in his committee to waste months negotiating compromises that every Republican -- including of course the one's he'd been negotiating with -- then proceeded to vote against.
And over and over, Dem's agreed to concessions (which can't be called "compromises" since the Pubbies gave absolutely zero in return) to Republican demands, only to have the Pubbies then reject exactly what they'd previously argued for. The most blatant of the many examples of this is the individual mandate -- something that the Republican Congressional leadership was already on record as supporting -- until the Dem's (contra Obama's stand in his campaign) adopted their demands for it.
And of course, almost every Republican voice repeatedly and grossly lied about the contents of the various bills, creating opposition to a plan that never existed outside the fever dreams of serial liars and fabulists, the infamous "death panels" being just the most blatant instance. Poll results for the actual contents of the bills as delivered show far higher and more intense support, and far less, and less intense, opposition.
And, of course, it's not just health care in which this entire paradigm of Republican intransigence and deceit is fully and solely responsible for creating the divisiveness and controversy that Monica pretends concern over.
The biggest and most important instance is the stimulus bill of early '09 -- which virtually every significant economist, of every political stripe, agrees was successful both in preventing a far more catastrophic drop into depression, and in starting the economy on its current upward path. They are also in near-unanimous agreement that the stimulus should have been far bigger, and had a greater proportion of expenditure, and lower ratio of tax cuts, and that had those been the case, the positive impacts would have been much greater. And why did the stimulus fall so short of its best possible form? Because, again, of Republican intransigence at the time -- and of course, they are all also blatantly lying about the effects, even as they tout those very positive effects within their own districts.
So, Monica, you can take your lies and put 'em where the sun don't shine. No doubt your friends in freeperville are ignorant and stupid enough to buy them. But here, I'm afraid we know better.
The only source of disunity around here is you and your ilk; so if you want that to change, pray for wisdom and honesty for yourself and your kind. (Though frankly, the depth and extent of your willful and wanton disregard of demonstrable facts may well be beyond what even the Almighty could fix.)

"Single payer!" "More work to be done to achieve Universal Health Care." You people are nuts. These are exactly the reasons we counseled against this first step to socialism, but your types insisted it was not so. You simply can't create a new entitlement when the country's already going broke. That's not fearmongering, just common sense. And tell me again how you square this allegedly great act of democracy with going against the will of the vast majority of Americans? Oh, we're to stupid to know better? We'll like it once it's forced upon us? You people are the reason that most of the country calls itself conservative. Good luck in November you nimwits.

If the Democrats want to pass HCR, with the majorities they have, they will find a way. If they start whining about the Parliamentarian, it means they don’t want to pass the bill. And if they don’t pass the bill, I can’t think of one reason for anyone to vote ever again for any Democrat who votes no on the bill.
acekard