bc-DC-Pelosi-on-HR3962 11-08

Care for America Act

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi and

Democratic leaders held a press conference following the House passage of H.R.

3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. The bill passed by a vote

of 220 to 215. Below are the Speaker's opening remarks:

"I and some of my colleagues just received a call from the President of

the United States, Barack Obama, congratulating us on a great victory for the

American people. I thank the President for his tremendous leadership because

without President Obama in the White House, this victory would not have been

possible. He provided the vision and the momentum for us to get the job done

for the American people. And for that we are very, very proud -- proud of our

success, proud of the Members of Congress who took a very, very intense

interest in the legislation -- they know what we have accomplished for the

American people.

"And it certainly would not have been possible without the tremendous

leadership of our committee chairs -- Mr. Waxman, Mr. Miller, and Mr. Rangel.

But I also want to congratulate the leadership team. We call it a team, but it

is becoming more and more of a partnership and we're hearing from all of them,

but Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Larson, Mr. Becerra, and Mr. Van Hollen, our

co-chairs -- Mr. Miller and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro -- have been wonderful.

"And now we'll hear from our chairmen. But we've all promised to be very

brief so I'll save the rest of my remarks for when I talk to you later. But I

know I speak for all of them when I say how proud we are to stand here with

John Dingell. He brings the history and the prospects for the future to this

debate. And how proud we were when he stood at that podium and opened the

debate this morning and how appropriate it was that he would close the debate

for our side and bring home a winning majority."

SOURCE Office of the Speaker of the House

-0- 11/08/2009

/CONTACT: Brendan Daly, Nadeam Elshami, or Drew Hammill, all of the

Office of the Speaker of the House, +1-202-226-7616/

CO: Office of the Speaker of the House

ST: District of Columbia

IN: HEA HIN

SU: POL LEG EXE

PR

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1836 11/08/2009 04:01 EST http://www.prnewswire.com