Here is Senator Patty Murray’s response to the President’s speech before Congress. Senator Murray is a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which drafted one of the four health reform proposals made public to date. The fifth will come next week from the Senate Finance Committee. Senator Murray is also the third ranking Democrat in the Senate and likely to be a member of the conference committee after versions of health reform bills are passed in the House and Senate.

President Obama stated clearly tonight what American families and businesses know all too well, our current health care system is simply unsustainable.

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Some thoughts on the big speech.6:00 Is this the essence of America? It sounds like it from the view of a center-left viewpoint.

“You see, our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They understood that there are instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom. But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies can stifle competition, and the vulnerable can be exploited. And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter – that at that point we don’t merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves.”

5:55 One lesson from 1993: failure begets more failure. In other words, something must pass this fall if Obama and Dems don’t want electoral disaster to loom on the horizon.

“But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that’s better politics to kill this plan than improve it. I will not stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what’s in the plan, we will call you out. And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now.

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President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of Congress about healthcare insurance reform. The speech will begin at 5 pm.

The White House just released these excerpts from the President’s address to a joint session of Congress tonight on healthcare:

I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last. It has now been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt first called for health care reform. And ever since, nearly every President and Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, has attempted to meet this challenge in some way. A bill for comprehensive health reform was first introduced by John Dingell Sr. in 1943. Sixty-five years later, his son continues to introduce that same bill at the beginning of each session.

Our collective failure to meet this challenge – year after year, decade after decade – has led us to a breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans. Some can’t get insurance on the job. Others are self-employed, and can’t afford it, since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer. Many other Americans who are willing and able to pay are still denied insurance due to previous illnesses or conditions that insurance companies decide are too risky or expensive to cover.

Read more excerpts by clicking below.
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