Obama Signs Health Reform Law (Yes, Again)

Final version of legislation enacted along with student loan overhaul
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 30, 2010 12:13 PM CDT
Obama Signs Health Reform Law (Yes, Again)
President Obama enters with faculty member Dr. Jill Biden before signing the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, March 30, 2010.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Finalizing two major pieces of his agenda, a beaming President Obama today signed legislation sealing his health care overhaul and making the government the primary lender to students by cutting banks out of the process. Both domestic priorities came in one bill, pushed through by Democrats in the House and Senate. The new law makes changes to the massive health insurance reform bill he signed into law with greater fanfare last week.

At Northern Virginia Community College, where Jill Biden teaches, he emphasized the overshadowed part of the bill: education. The new law restructures the way the government handles student loans, stripping banks of their role as middlemen. The president said that change would save more than $60 billion over the next 10 years. "I didn't stand with the banks and the financial industries in this fight," Obama said. "That's not why I came to Washington, and neither did any of the members of Congress who are here today."
(More President Obama stories.)

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