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Obama to Sell Health Care Law to American People

   VOA News 25 March 2010
   Barack Obama

Photo: AP

   US President Barack Obama (File)

   U.S.  President  Barack Obama is promoting historic health care reform
   on  Thursday,  two  days after he signed the sweeping legislation into
   law.
   Mr.  Obama  will  be  in Iowa City, where he first outlined his health
   care reform plan as a presidential candidate in 2007.
   Republicans  are solidly opposed to the law.  Senate Republicans have
   successfully  challenged a companion measure that makes changes to the
   new  law, forcing the House of Representatives to hold another vote on
   the smaller bill.
   Congressional Democrats have also been targeted by threats and acts of
   vandalism  following  the  health  care  vote.  House Majority Leader
   Steny Hoyer says at least 10 members of Congress have received threats
   to themselves or their family members over the past three days.
   An   aide  to  Senate  Democratic  Majority  Leader  Harry  Reid  says
   Republicans  challenged two provisions in the companion bill that deal
   with  reforms  to the U.S. student loan industry.   Reid's spokesman
   Jim  Manley  said  the  Senate  parliamentarian  ruled  that  the  two
   provisions  violate Senate rules that require all parts of the bill to
   have a budgetary impact.
   The  Senate  is  expected  to  remove  the  items  from the bill later
   Thursday  and  send  it  back  to the Democrat-controlled House, which
   narrowly  approved  the measure Sunday by a vote of 220 to 211. Manley
   says he is confident the House will pass it again.
   Senate Democrats submitted the legislation under those rules to enable
   it  to  pass with a simple majority in the 100-seat Senate, where they
   control 59 seats.
   The  Obama  administration  backed  the  separate  bill of health care
   changes  in  order  to  persuade  more  Democrats  to support the main
   legislation,  which  had  already  passed in the Senate, and which Mr.
   Obama signed into law Tuesday.
   Despite  their setback, Senate Democrats used their simple majority to
   fight  off  almost 30 Republican amendments to the bill of health care
   fixes  in  a  marathon  session  lasting  from Wednesday into Thursday
   morning.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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