With a final vote of 220-212, the House of Representatives passed a historic health care bill with a stated intent of providing quality affordable health care to all Americans.
Following hours of debate on a rare Saturday session of Congress, a health care bill with a price tag of 1.2 trillion dollars will now make its way to the Senate where a new round of negotiations will take place.
"Thanks to the hard work of the House, we are just two steps away from achieving health insurance reform in America. Now the United States Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation,"
Obama said in a statement following the vote.
With the help of one Republican vote, Joseph Cao (R-LA), the bill surpassed the needed 218 votes to pass. Republican Paul Ryan denounced the bill as the, "worst bill I have seen come to the floor in my 11 years in Congress".
