the young boy was edward kennedy. teddy. he never forgot the brother who wasn't there.ts celebrated the signing of the historic health care bill. you can see all the key people there. president obama signed the bill. speaker nancy pelosi, senate leader harry reid, jim clyburn, bernie sanders, a self-described socialist to bart stupak who insisted on the executive order banning federal funds for abortion. they were all there in the east room today, and it was a joyous time. perhaps something like that party in hyannisport in 1946 when the kennedys got together and the youngest said they should not forget the brother who set the standard of courage for all. if we set our compass true we will reach our destination, not merely victory for our party, but renewal for our nation. on this day of celebration, i woulke

wouldn't be possible to talk about healthcare without acknowledging the great leadership of senator edward kennedy who made healthcare his life's work. a oo in a letter to president obama senator kennedy wrote that access to healthcare was the great unfinished business of our society. that is until today. after more of a year of debate and by the way the legislation that will go forth from here has amendments while if may not get republican votes in that respect it is by partisan in having over 200 republican amendments. after a year of debate and hearing the calls of millions of americans we have come to this historic moment. today we have the opportunity to complete the great unfinished business of our socie society as health insurance reform that for all americans that is a right and not a privilege. in the same letter senator kennedy wrote what is at stake is not just the details of policy but the character of our country. american also look back on thi day as ones in which we honored the character of our country and honored the commitment to nation's founders for a commitment to life liberty

tell the late senator edward kennedy his 40-year push for major health care reform was at the finish line. today this poignant image from the senator's son, congressman patrick kennedy, a grave side note that reads simply, dad, the unfinished business is done. done at least for now. this was, as i said, a huge day here in washington. the vice president used more colorful language. more on that a little later. using 22 pens, president obama signed into law sweeping legislation that affects everyone, everyone, who lives in this great country. mr. obama knew he was speaking for the history books. >> today after almost a century of trying, today after over a year of debate, today, after all the votes have been tallied, health insurance reform becomes law in the united states of america. [ applause ] >> applause for the president, but republicans who couldn't defeat it in the congress now want to overturn it into the courts. 14 state attorneys general say the federal government cannot require americans to buy health insurance. >> it is a wrong law. it's unconstitutional. this lawsuit will

vicki kennedy, wife of edward m. kennedy, will be our exclusive guest tomorrow night. i hope you'll visit with us tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. as we launch "john king usa." wolf blitzer for a special edition of "larry king live" to continue this conversation about health care reform. >>> welcome to a special edition of "larry king live." i'm wolf blitzer sitting in for larry. lots to discuss. lots to absorb and digest as we will over the next hour. i want to go right to our senior white house correspondent ed henry. he's in the east room of the white house. where we just saw the president speak, the vice president was there with him. he laid out his agenda for the coming days and weeks that he minced no words, ed. >> reporter: exactly right. the president saying boldly, this is what change looks like. when you talk to his top advisers they realize this is someone who's faced a lot of criticism, recent weeks, recent months, that maybe he hasn't delivered on the change that he promised in the came pain. this was a president coming out with a bounce in his step. i think jo

health care reform, a dream of his father, the late senator edward kennedy for more than 40 years. congressman, an emotional 24 hours for so many people. i want to just get a gauge of your feelings this morning. >> well, thank you, robin. for my father, it was always about expanding what this country meant to americans. he was around for medicare, for the civil rights act '64, voting rights act of '65. he worked for community health centers. s-chip for kids. the americans for disability act. he always believed that our country was about expanding opportunity for more and more americans. and i believe as he said, this was the unfinished business of americans. because poor people have medicaid. wealthier people can get health insurance, and seniors can get medicare. but it's the middle class, the people who struggle every day who can't be protected. this is a program for the middle class. too often in america, they're the ones who are left out. and yet not now, in this bill, they're protected because this is a consumer protection bill. people often say, well, now government's going t

hatch worked on both with his dear friend the late edward m. kennedy after which the service bill was named. it was kennedy you'll recall who insisted that health care was a fundamental right, not a privilege. it's not zwrit use reconciliation. it would be immoral to do oths ear wise and let a phony argument about process get in the way of health coverage for 30 million americans. discuss. >> democrats, this is not a fight between republicans and democrats in a real sense. it's between democrats and the people out there. 58% of the people are against this bill. and very few are for it. the fact of the matter is, they are going to abuse the reconciliation rules and let me tell you. the reconciliation rules have never been used for such sweeping social legislation like this. this is one-sixth of the american economy. it's sweeping in effect. and there have been three sweeping social -- not sweeping but social bills that have been approved through reconciliation. one was of course the welfare reform that had 78 positive votes. huge bipartisan vote. anothe

we lost a seat in the united states senate due to the unfortunate passing of our hero, senator edward kennedy from the commonwealth of massachusetts we lost a democratic seat in the united states senate and senator kennedy's replacement was not from the democratic party. so we found ourselves, unfortunately, with less than the super majority required in the united states senate. so president obama called the leadership together many times and we decided we would go forward, not withstanding the fact that we had a setback that we would go forward and that this house of representatives would take up and pass the senate-passed bill. that's a point, congresswoman christensen, i want to make tonight. the bill we passed last night was parliamentary -- was correct, it conformed with the rules of the house and the senate, they was identical bill that the united states senate passed on christmas eve with 60 votes. we passed that bill last night in the house with 219 votes in favor of passage. we only needed 216 votes to get it done. today, the bill is on the president's desk and we will go down to the

let me remind us of a man that does not live today but edward kennedy told us that he had a vision and a resolve, that the health care of americans would no longer count on whether or not they were wealthy americans. and we're reminded of the words of john f. kennedy that said, ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. this is not an unfunded mandate because we know so well that the c.b.o. has said that this is one that will take care of itself, that the deficit will be reduced by $130 billion, that's a deficit -- that the deficit will be cut by $1.2 trillion, it eliminates the medicare doughnut and it ensures some -- insures some 32 million people. but i am standing here today because 45,000 americans die every year like eric, a 32-year-old lawyer who went to the emergency room not once but three times. they sent him away with antibodies ands a prince but he died -- aspirins but he died. i cannot tolerate that and today we will heal this land and we will vote for the health care bill. it is not an unfunded mandate. the speaker pro tempore: the gent

edward murrow. perhaps the most crucial. succeeded joe kennedy. what do you think the world would look like today if that little pack of americans in london had managed to convince people back home much earlier that hitler was an extremely bad dude and have to be stopped? the u.s. forces would join forces at the out set? >> that is a great what if question. i am not sure. it just wasn't in the cards that that was going to happen. the book is really a behind-the-scenes look at the partnership between the u.s. and great britain during world war ii, with these three americans as the main characters. one reason i am writing about them or wrote about them is that they were really key players in the whole debate in 1940 and 1941 over whether britain should be saved. britain at that time was the last country in europe holding out against hitler. desperately in need of american aid. really close to defeat. hanging on by the skin of their teeth at that time. they needed american aid, but american aid was incredibly skimpy. that was true until pearl harbor.