Senate Opens Debate on Health Reform: A Proud Moment for our Democracy

The Senate made me proud when they overcame a GOP filibuster threat and voted to open debate on The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

This is an important step toward the final part of our Health Reform initiative. Once the Senate ends debate, their bill will be voted on by a simple majority. In the final step, the House bill and the Senate bill will be combined and the President will sign it into law.

Over these last few months, we have been blessed to witness the workings of our government in the way our Founders envisioned. We have heard debate from all sectors, including those opposed to this reform.

We have incorporated as many of these viewpoints as we possible can, through our open and vigorous democratic process. From town halls to the steps of the Capitol, we have studied this reform from every conceivable angle.

This reform will cut the deficit, cover the uninsured, and bring down costs for small businesses. And that's just the start, because once we have a healthy population we will start to see savings in other areas as well.

Its times like this that I admire the principles of our Founders so much more. They constructed a system of Checks and Balances, that at times seems inconvenient, but are wholly necessary in the end.

That is one reason I never could understand the Right's aversion to government and belief that it only hurts the individual and society. That belief could not be further from what our Founders believed. They designed our system with those concerns in mind, because they were escaping previous systems in which the King or the Church had too much power.

Today I am proud to see a functional government once again. Democracy can be messy, but its a beautiful mess - and while it may be imperfect, it still works to produce the best result for the times.

Bless the Founders and bless those representatives who work in government because of civic virtue - From here on out, let's try to put our differences aside as Democrats and stand together in our support, so they can pass Health Reform before the end of the year.