Featured Stories Winter 2009 Historic Election Brings Change President Signs Muscular Dystrophy CARE Act SCHIP Reauthorization Health Care Reform Important Dates for Congress, Maryland and Virginia Pediatric Palliative Care Bill Edwin K. Zechman, Jr. president and chief executive officer Jacqueline D. Bowens vice president and chief government and external affairs officer Clare Kelly director, government and external affairs Bill Quirk, editor manager, government & legal affairs Historic Election Brings Change On November 4, 2008, America elected Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as its 44th President. Obama attained 364 electoral votes and 65 million popular votes, beating Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 59 million popular votes. President-elect Obama was sworn into office January 20, 2009. In the U.S. Senate, Democrats increased their majority by six seats to 56 with victories in Colorado, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia. Two Independent senators caucus with the Democrats, Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Senator Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), which effectively increases the Democratic majority to 58 seats. The Minnesota Senate race between incumbent Norm Coleman (R) and challenger Al Franken (D) remains in legal limbo as a statewide recount is conducted. Even if Franken emerges as the victor, Democrats will not have the filibuster-proof 60-member majority they had hoped for, but it’s still a more dominant position of Senate control. The Senate has not had a filibuster-proof majority since 1977. Read more President Signs Muscular Dystrophy CARE Act On October 8, 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law H.R. 5265, the "Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Community Assistance, Research and Education Amendments Act" (MD CARE Act). This legislation, which builds on the success of previous legislation enacted in 2001, will continue to fund important muscular dystrophy research and improve patient care for people living with muscular dystrophy. Read more SCHIP Reauthorization The 111th Congress wasted little time in addressing reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance program. After passage in the House of Representatives on January 29, 2009, and Senate passage shortly thereafter, President Obama signed a reauthorized and expanded version of the SCHIP program into law on February 4, 2009. The expanded program passed in the Senate by a vote of 66-32, with 9 Republicans joining Democrats to support the bill. Read more Copyright 2009 by Children’s National Medical Center. All rights reserved. The bear logo and Children’s National Medical Center are registered trademarks. The names of the other organizations within the Children’s National Medical Center system are service marks of Children’s National Medical Center and/or its affiliates. A member of the Children’s Miracle Network Children’s does not discriminate on any grounds prohibited by applicable law,including race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin or ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, status as a disabled or Vietnam veteran or as a qualified disabled individual.