Arcuri, Owens, Maffei vote yes; Murphy votes no for passage of landmark bill

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By ANDREW DONOVAN

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WKTV) - Three local congressmen stood with their party Saturday and voted yes to the health care reform bill, while one local representative was one of the few to vote no.

Local Congressmen Michael Arcuri (D-24), Bill Owens (D-23) and Dan Maffei (D-25) were among the Democrats Saturday to vote yes for the health care reform bill in the House. Congressman Scott Murphy (D-20) was one of the 39 Dems to votes against it. The bill narrowly passed 220-215.

Arcuri was one of the Blue Dog Democrats were have been long to decide on their position on the controversial overhaul of the health care system. He announced early Saturday that he would vote yes for the vote later that day.

After being one of the few Democrats to vote no Saturday night, Congressman Murphy said he believes some sort of reform does need to happen and that he agreed with some fundamental pieces of the bill.

Despite that he said, "In order to achieve this goal, we must address the fundamentally flawed system that has led to skyrocketing costs, bankrupt families and extremely profitable insurance companies. For these reasons, I voted no on H.R. 3962.”

The bill would cost about $1.2 trillion over the next ten years, but limit high health care costs, provide insurance for most American citizens and reduce the federal deficit by about $100 billion, according to House leaders.

President Obama praised the House in a statement and said he is "absolutely confident" that the Senate will pass its version of the legislation. "I look forward to signing it into law by the end of the year," he said.

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