As Chair of the House Rules Committee it was my responsibility to ensure that these bills received the fair hearing an up or down votes they deserved. On Saturday the Rules Committee met for over 9 hours of debate and considered well over 100 amendments. All of this debate was televised and archived online. This extended debate continued the commitment to transparency of the House committees, who held hundreds of hours of hearings to hear from 181 witnesses and consider 239 amendments during the last year and a half.

The next day I opened debate on the floor at 4:06 p.m. Six and a half hours of debate later the House voted to pass the Senate health care bill and send it to President Obama for his signature. We then proceeded to pass our reconciliation bill, improving upon the Senate bill in many ways.

Americans across the country watched us debate this bill and watched the votes happen. And of course, last month there was the historic White House health care summit. There’s simply no way someone can complain that there was not a sincere and real effort to reach out to the other side to include their ideas in this package

When you compare this process to the one used by Republicans under President Bush - whether it was to pass the PATRIOT Act or to create Medicare Part D – the difference is striking. Despite months of vitriol from the right, culminating in protesters hurling epithets at members of Congress and even spitting on them, we proceeded with an open process of debate and up or down votes. Throughout the process, and despite Republicans commitment to kill this bill rather than engage in a constructive manner, we still considered their amendments fairly and incorporated the ideas that had value.

This weekend was historic, and I am proud to have played a part in it. There is much work still to do but let us take this moment to celebrate what we have already accomplished:

10 million of the most struggling Americans will be covered by Medicaid

We will provide subsidies to help working class Americans afford their insurance

Americans with preexisting conditions will immediately have access to insurance through a high risk pool

Insurers will be required to spend at least 85% of premiums on care

Reform will reduce the federal deficit by $1.3 trillion over the next twenty years

There will be tax credits this year to help small businesses give their employees health insurance

Health care reform will end denial of coverage because of preexisting conditions, first for children and later for all adults

We will prohibit lifetime caps on benefits

Insurance companies will be unable to drop you from your coverage because you get sick

Medicare will see multiple improvements:

We will immediately begin closing the Medicare donut hole

We will immediately remove copays for preventative care

We require Medicare Advantage plans to spend at least 85% of premiums on care

We extended the solvency of Medicare by many years

This is a proud day and all of you helped to make it happen.