[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21293]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, we in this House of Representatives have the 
opportunity to participate and help shape history. Last night during 
the joint session, President Barack Obama was part of that great train 
of history of our Nation. He spoke in the great tradition of Teddy 
Roosevelt who first spoke about national health care, and Eleanor 
Roosevelt who talked about it, and Harry Truman who spoke 60 years ago 
from this well about that need in this Nation. And he spoke in the 
great tradition of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, who saw that 
Medicaid and Medicare were passed in 1965.
  I was very, very proud to be a part of this body last night, and I 
will be even prouder when a vote comes up.
  Over the Speaker's rostrum engraved in stone is a quote of Daniel 
Webster: ``Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its 
powers, build on its institutions, promote all its great interest and 
see whether we also in our day and generation may not perform something 
worthy to be remembered.'' Daniel Webster is calling to us to heed 
Barack Obama's call to pass national health care in the great tradition 
of American leaders and do something worthy to be remembered.
  I look forward to that opportunity.

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