Health Care Reform Bill Passes

Late last night, the House voted to pass the Senate version of the health care reform bill. The final vote required for passage was passed just a few minutes before the deadline, and led to cheers of “Yes We Can” throughout the Democratic side of the House. Less than an hour later, the House also passed a package of reconciliation measures to bring the bill in line with legislation that passed in the house about a year ago.

The final challenge came from conservative Democrats who feared the bill would use taxpayer money to pay for abortions. President Obama was able to sway this bloc at the last minute by promising to issue an executive order mandating that taxpayer dollars only pay for abortions in situations of rape, incest, and health risk to the mother.

The final vote on the key legislation was 219-212. Despite attempts to placate GOP concerns about the legislation, all 178 Republican members voted against the bill.

CNN has provided a handy breakdown of what measures made it into the final bill here.

You can also read the full text of the final House bill here.