Good evening, everybody. Tonight, after nearly 100 years of talk and 
frustration, after decades of trying, and a year of sustained effort 
and debate, 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.

Tonight, at a time when the pundits said it was no longer possible, we 
rose above the weight of our politics. We pushed back on the undue 
influence of special interests. 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. We 
proved that this government -- a government of the people and by the 
people -- still works for the people.

I want to thank every member of Congress who stood up tonight with 
courage and conviction to make health care reform a reality. And I know 
this wasn’t an easy vote for a lot of people. But it was the right 
vote. I want to thank Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her extraordinary 
leadership, and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim 
Clyburn for their commitment to getting the job done. I want to thank 
my outstanding Vice President, Joe Biden, and my wonderful Secretary of 
Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, for their fantastic work 
on this issue. I want to thank the many staffers in Congress, and my 
own incredible staff in the White House, who have worked tirelessly 
over the past year with Americans of all walks of life to forge a 
reform package finally worthy of the people we were sent here to serve.

Today’s vote answers the dreams of so many who have fought for this 
reform. To every unsung American who took the time to sit down and 
write a letter or type out an e-mail hoping your voice would be heard 
-- it has been heard tonight. To the untold numbers who knocked on 
doors and made phone calls, who organized and mobilized out of a firm 
conviction that change in this country comes not from the top down, but 
 from the bottom up -- let me reaffirm that conviction: This moment is 
possible because of you.

Most importantly, today’s vote answers the prayers of every American 
who has hoped deeply for something to be done about a health care 
system that works for insurance companies, but not for ordinary people. 
For most Americans, this debate has never been about abstractions, the 
fight between right and left, Republican and Democrat -- it’s always 
been about something far more personal. It’s about every American who 
knows the shock of opening an envelope to see that their premiums just 
shot up again when times are already tough enough. It’s about every 
parent who knows the desperation of trying to cover a child with a 
chronic illness only to be told “no” again and again and again. It’s 
about every small business owner forced to choose between insuring 
employees and staying open for business. They are why we committed 
ourselves to this cause.

Tonight’s vote is not a victory for any one party -- it's a victory for 
them. It's a victory for the American people. And it's a victory for 
common sense.

Now, it probably goes without saying that tonight’s vote will give rise 
to a frenzy of instant analysis. There will be tallies of Washington 
winners and losers, predictions about what it means for Democrats and 
Republicans, for my poll numbers, for my administration. But long after 
the debate fades away and the prognostication fades away and the dust 
settles, what will remain standing is not the government-run system 
some feared, or the status quo that serves the interests of the 
insurance industry, but a health care system that incorporates ideas 
from both parties -- a system that works better for the American people.

If you have health insurance, this reform just gave you more control by 
reining in the worst excesses and abuses of the insurance industry with 
some of the toughest consumer protections this country has ever known 
-- so that you are actually getting what you pay for.

If you don’t have insurance, this reform gives you a chance to be a 
part of a big purchasing pool that will give you choice and competition 
and cheaper prices for insurance. And it includes the largest health 
care tax cut for working families and small businesses in history -- so 
that if you lose your job and you change jobs, start that new business, 
you’ll finally be able to purchase quality, affordable care and the 
security and peace of mind that comes with it.

This reform is the right thing to do for our seniors. It makes Medicare 
stronger and more solvent, extending its life by almost a decade. And 
it’s the right thing to do for our future. It will reduce our deficit 
by more than $100 billion over the next decade, and more than $1 
trillion in the decade after that.

So this isn’t radical reform. But it is major reform. 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.

Now as momentous as this day is, it's not the end of this journey. On 
Tuesday, the Senate will take up revisions to this legislation that the 
House has embraced, and these are revisions that have strengthened this 
law and removed provisions that had no place in it. Some have predicted 
another siege of parliamentary maneuvering in order to delay adoption 
of these improvements. I hope that’s not the case. 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. This year, and in 
years to come, we have a solemn responsibility to do it right.

Nor does this day represent the end of the work that faces our country. 
The work of revitalizing our economy goes on. The work of promoting 
private sector job creation goes on. The work of putting American 
families’ dreams back within reach goes on. And we march on, with 
renewed confidence, energized by this victory on their behalf.

In the end, what this day represents is another stone firmly laid in 
the foundation of the American Dream. Tonight, we answered the call of 
history as so many generations of Americans have before us. When faced 
with crisis, we did not shrink from our challenge -- we overcame it. We 
did not avoid our responsibility -- we embraced it. We did not fear our 
future -- we shaped it.

Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of 
America.

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