House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the widow of Sen. Ted Kennedy, D- Mass., after the Supreme Court ruling to uphold most of the Affordable Care Act Thursday.
"Now, Teddy can rest," Pelosi told Vicki Kennedy.
Democrats had been expecting the worst, with many predicting that the health care law would either be struck down entirely or it's key component, the individual mandate, ruled unconstitutional.
But with the law essentially upheld, Democrats were celebrating, particularly Pelosi, one of its main architects and perhaps the lawmaker most responsible for its passage in Congress. Pelosi, who was speaker when the law cleared Congress in 2010, managed to get the measure through the House despite opposition from both the Left and Right.
Pelosi's aides said she got the news of the court's ruling following a weekly meeting with the leadership members in her caucus.
She then left messages for President Obama and Vice President Biden and then called her husband, telling him, "Sweetie, we won!"
Pelosi, her aides said, wore her "lucky purple pumps," the shoes she wore on March 21, 2010, the day the bill passed the House.
She also had this exchange with Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., another health care law architect.
Pelosi: "What a great victory."
Miller: "You bet your ass [it is]."
Pelosi: "I did!"
sferrechio@washingtonexaminer.com
SCOTUS Health Care
