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For many Americans who are happy with their health care, a central question about insurance reform is "What’s in it for me?" No matter your age, employment status, or current insurance, there’s something in insurance reform that will give you more options and make health care more affordable.

That’s why today, the White House released a new online tool that will help you find out exactly what’s in insurance reform for you. After you answer a few simple questions, you’ll be provided with a list of how the proposed reforms would affect you.

Vice President Biden himself introduced the tool in a video released earlier today:

If you haven’t done so yet, take the "What’s in Reform for You" quiz now, and then share it with your friends and family.

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Here’s a look at some of the recent news coverage of the ongoing Health Insurance Reform Now bus tour:

From the Washington Post:

President Obama’s supporters hope to recapture the energy of last year’s triumphant election campaign in a bid to regain control of the health-care debate, planning more than 2,000 house parties, rallies and town hall meetings across the country over the next two weeks.

The initiative began Wednesday with a rally at a labor hall in Phoenix that featured the Obama sunrise logo and placards that became fixtures of the 2008 presidential campaign.

Organizing for America, a nationwide group of Obama supporters run by the Democratic National Committee, also brought along a colorful bus featuring the slogan, "Health Insurance Reform Now: Let’s Get it Done." The vehicle is on an 11-city tour advocating for health-care reform.

"We think that change happens with neighbors talking to neighbors, and these rallies reflect that," said DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan. "That’s how we won the campaign in the fall, with grass-roots organizing, and that’s what we will see in these events going forward."

From the Denver Post:

President Barack Obama’s Organizing for America team rolled its bright- blue bus into Denver on Friday evening and was greeted by about 1,500 supporters of health care reform at a rally at North High School.

"This is easily the biggest crowd we’ve seen," group organizer Mitch Stewart said as he stepped off the touring bus at the third of 10 stops across the country.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., had already warmed up the crowd.

"My daughter has epilepsy, and she’s being discriminated against because of her prior condition," he told the cheering crowd. "We’re not going to let her get pushed aside…

Michele Tyler, 61, of Evergreen said she came to the rally because her health policy with Humana won’t cover a fourth surgery she needs for a badly broken ankle. In addition to the exclusion of her ankle, her policy has a $5,000 deductible, she said.

"My husband, who’s self-employed, has ulcerative colitis, and Humana dropped him when he turned 60 in 2007," she said. "He’s now covered by state insurance, Cover Colorado. We need to change this. This isn’t right…"

The crowd in Denver was mostly older, with varying degrees of gray hair, with many minorities and children. The rally was organized by Obama staffers and Democratic Party workers who contacted supporters through e-mail, telephone banks, robo-calls and volunteers.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Supporters of President Barack Obama’s health care plan rallied Saturday night outside the Summerfest grounds, chanting "Let’s Get it Done" and presenting more than 24,000 "declarations of support" to Wisconsin’s congressional delegation.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who died Tuesday and fought for health care reform for decades, was remembered with a moment of silence and a call to arms.

"He was a giant on whose shoulders we all stood," said Meagan Holman, a Milwaukeean who worked on Kennedy’s staff for more than 10 years. In an emotional address, she said she didn’t travel to Kennedy’s funeral Saturday because she and her husband are still paying off bills from a high-risk pregnancy more than two years ago.

"Today, we buried our health care champion," said Bruce Coburn, director of the Service Employees International Union. "Tonight, we say, ‘Don’t mourn. It’s time to organize.’ This is the Super Bowl of that fight for change…"

The declarations of support were delivered to Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), as she and other members of Congress return to Washington.

Organizers told stories in support of better coverage.

Dream Gunther said she has good health insurance as a Milwaukee Public Schools teacher but remembers growing up with inadequate health insurance.

"We were the working poor," she said. "When we got sick, we didn’t go to the doctor." She described how her twin sister, Keona, who also was at the rally, became ill and didn’t want to tell their parents. "She said, ‘What could they do if we tell them?’ I felt what 47 million Americans feel every day."

Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton said it’s time insurance companies changed. "Everyone else in the 20th century has had to evolve. Why can’t the insurance industry?" she asked.

And from the Des Moines Register:

As the sun began to set, Miller and Mitch Stewart, director of Organizing for America, reflected on the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat., and called on members of Congress to take up Kennedy’s passion for working in a bipartisan manner on liberal issues, specifically health care reform.

Stewart read a statement from President Barack Obama that called Kennedy “the greatest United States senator of our time,” then urged the mostly democratic crowd for its support in passing health care reform.

“The status quo is no longer sustainable,” Stewart said. “This is serious, every one of us has something to lose here…”

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Last Wednesday, Organizing for America kicked off a ten city bus tour to help bring attention to the work that’s been going on all month in the fight for health insurance reform. Since then the bus has traveled from Phoenix to Des Moines, and thousands of Americans have come out to demand insurance reform now. In Phoenix, people heard from Dr. Nicholas Vasquez and Linda Grady, who shared their own stories to demonstrate the need for reform:

The highlight of the evening was listening to personal testimony from two everyday folks, Linda Grady and Dr. Nicholas Vasquez. Dr Vasquez, an ER doctor, spoke about how he regularly would see patients who lack health insurance that needed some kind of treatment. He referenced one gentleman that came in six times within 10 days due to chronic migraines and no health insurance.

…Linda Grady was your average person that was suddenly afflicted with a herniated disk. She watched as the same injury happened to a professional baseball player in the same week. Linda followed his recovery very carefully and within two months he was back on the field while she was still bed ridden. When she tried to see the specialists her doctor suggested, her insurance company wouldn’t cover it, saying it wasn’t necessary. She was blessed to have a health care advocate in her family that took up her cause and got her the proper care. She ended her speech saying “God speed to this bus on its journey, because this bus is the real ‘Straight Talk Express’!”

The bus moved on to New Mexico, where a crowd overwhelmed the National Hispanic Cultural Center:

The heat in Phoenix yesterday gave way to a cool night here in Albuquerque, but the storm overhead didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. Before the bus arrived, the line at the entrance to National Hispanic Cultural Center was around the block; by the time the bus pulled out, the crowd unanimously agreed that this year, we will improve health care in America, rain or shine.

Along the way, the team on the bus has been tweeting continuously through their Twitter account, @OFAOnTheBus. They next stopped in Denver, for an event that was covered by the Denver Post:

"This is easily the biggest crowd we’ve seen," group organizer Mitch Stewart said as he stepped off the touring bus at the third of 10 stops across the country.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., had already warmed up the crowd.

"My daughter has epilepsy, and she’s being discriminated against because of her prior condition," he told the cheering crowd. "We’re not going to let her get pushed aside."

The bus pulled into Des Moines yesterday, where Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller reminded them that the health insurance reform fight wouldn’t be easy. The people of Iowa, though, are up to the challenge:

Des Moines was a perfect example of this ethic: regular people coming together and organizing not because it’s easy, or because the odds were in their favor. The people in Des Moines—just like those in Phoenix, Albuquerque, Denver, Austin, New York, and cities all over the country this week—are here because they refuse to let the health care reform debate be dictated by talking heads on cable TV or political pundits in D.C. Iowans and others are organizing for change not because it is easy, but because the status quo is unacceptable.

Later, the bus stopped in St. Louis, and now they’re rolling on to Indianapolis—you can follow their progress on our Health Insurance Reform Now: On the Ground page. In the slideshow below, you can see some of the great photos from the trip so far:

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President Obama remembers the "Lion of the Senate" at the funeral mass of Senator Ted Kennedy:

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Earlier tonight, OFA Deputy Director Jeremy Bird sent in this report from the road . . .

Milwaukee, WI – It is a cold, windy summer night here in downtown Milwaukee, and hundreds of health insurance reformers are filing into Meier Festival Park.

Earlier today, more than 3,000 reformers gathered in New York City with the same message of hope. One thousand came out in Portland. Another 1,800 are finishing up a reform event in Austin, Texas. And, nearly 800 rallied for health insurance reform in Fargo, North Dakota today.

These crowds come on the heels of last night’s 1,500-plus reformers gathering in Denver, Thursday’s 1,000 plus rally in Albuquerque and another 1,100 on Wednesday night in Phoenix — all part of Organizing for America’s national bus tour.

In addition to this, hundreds of health insurance reform activists were trained on community organizing skills in Maryland, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Arizona, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana and Montana in the past two weeks. Thousands more woke up this morning, gathered together as neighborhood volunteer teams, grabbed clipboards and continued going door-to-door, making calls and connecting with their neighbors one-on-one as part of OFA’s methodical, meticulous, focused organizing strategy.

This weekend’s outpouring of support follows weeks of organizing from pro-health insurance reform supporters across the country. They have visited their Congressional members offices (some 64,000 in one week took part in that civil action). They have called their members offices. They have attended town halls — over 2,100 reformers in Reston, VA, 1,200 in Kansas City, MO, 800 in Albuquerque, NM, and 700 in Queens, NY, just this week alone.

In addition, over 1.5 million OFA volunteers — not to mention the volunteers from other health insurance reform coalition partners — have taken direct action on health care in the past 11 weeks: writing letters to their editors, canvassing their neighborhoods, and organizing local events to spread the truth about President Obama’s health insurance principles. With each conversation, volunteers have been getting supporters to sign declarations of support and now those volunteer leaders are presenting those declarations to Members of Congress across the country.

Here in Milwaukee, volunteer Community Organizers from every Congressional District spent the last 11 weeks collecting tens of thousands of declarations from voters in Wisconsin. In a few minutes Diana, Nate, Jessie, Terrell, Staci, Barbara, Joseph and Beth will present these declarations to Congresswoman Gwen Moore. Also today, 150 volunteers gathered in Reno, Nevada to deliver the thousands of declarations they’ve collected from health insurance reform supporters across the state. In Sonoma, CA, 300 volunteers came together and delivered their declarations directly to Representative Mike Thompson and Representative Lynn Woolsey. Ceremonies like this are taking place in Congressional Districts across the country this week.

Since the President hosted his national forum with OFA, over 2,000 local events like this one have been planned before recess ends. OFA volunteer leaders already organized an additional 12,000 local public event events since our reform kick offs back in June. In all of these events, local citizens have shared their personal health care stories; doctors, nurses, small business owners, and seniors have talked about the urgency of reform — respectfully, personally, and truthfully.

There is no doubt about it — health insurance reformers are significantly outnumbering the supporters of the status quo at town halls and on Main streets across this country. Looking out at this crowd in Milwaukee tells the real story of August — the story the 24-hour cable echo chamber has refused to tell — the story of a nation on the brink of real, substantive change.

Wisconsinites continue pouring into the park. There are now over 1000 people here calling for reform. They are young and old, wealthy and poor, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native America, Democrat, Republican and Independent. They are here because the status quo is no longer acceptable. They are here because they voted for change in November. They are here talking about this important issue because our President has wisely and courageously chosen to make real change.

The real story of August is the story of these reformers. Don’t let the cable news obsession with a minority group of angry protesters tell you otherwise. We knew it would not be easy, but the two volunteer Community Organizers from Milwaukee I am about to introduce — Felecia Martin and Dream Gunther — knew that too. It’s why they have been building local groups of volunteers across Wisconsin who are contacting their neighbors, setting the record straight, recruiting more reformers, and building something that will bring change on health care, energy, and education reform (and beyond).

Want proof this strategy can work? If the group of 800 reformers in Fargo, hundreds of whom signed up to volunteer door-to-door earlier today is not enough for you, then come on out to one of the 2,000 plus local events happening across the country in the next few days.

We knew change was not going to come easy. It never has. But, it is coming. I can feel it in the air here in Milwaukee.

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The President just finished his eulogy of his dear friend and colleague, Senator Edward M. Kenendy. The full remarks are below.

Mrs. Kennedy, Kara, Edward, Patrick, Curran, Caroline, members of the Kennedy family, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:

Today we say goodbye to the youngest child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy. The world will long remember their son Edward as the heir to a weighty legacy; a champion for those who had none; the soul of the Democratic Party; and the lion of the U.S. Senate – a man whose name graces nearly one thousand laws, and who penned more than three hundred himself.

But those of us who loved him, and ache with his passing, know Ted Kennedy by the other titles he held: Father. Brother. Husband. Uncle Teddy, or as he was often known to his younger nieces and nephews, “The Grand Fromage,” or “The Big Cheese.” I, like so many others in the city where he worked for nearly half a century, knew him as a colleague, a mentor, and above all, a friend.

Ted Kennedy was the baby of the family who became its patriarch; the restless dreamer who became its rock. He was the sunny, joyful child, who bore the brunt of his brothers’ teasing, but learned quickly how to brush it off. When they tossed him off a boat because he didn’t know what a jib was, six-year-old Teddy got back in and learned to sail. When a photographer asked the newly-elected Bobby to step back at a press conference because he was casting a shadow on his younger brother, Teddy quipped, “It’ll be the same in Washington.”

This spirit of resilience and good humor would see Ted Kennedy through more pain and tragedy than most of us will ever know. He lost two siblings by the age of sixteen. He saw two more taken violently from the country that loved them. He said goodbye to his beloved sister, Eunice, in the final days of his own life. He narrowly survived a plane crash, watched two children struggle with cancer, buried three nephews, and experienced personal failings and setbacks in the most public way possible.

It is a string of events that would have broken a lesser man. And it would have been easy for Teddy to let himself become bitter and hardened; to surrender to self-pity and regret; to retreat from public life and live out his years in peaceful quiet. No one would have blamed him for that.

But that was not Ted Kennedy. As he told us, “…[I]ndividual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in – and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves.” Indeed, Ted was the “Happy Warrior” that the poet William Wordsworth spoke of when he wrote:

As tempted more; more able to endure,
As more exposed to suffering and distress;
Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.

Through his own suffering, Ted Kennedy became more alive to the plight and suffering of others – the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier sent to battle without armor; the citizen denied her rights because of what she looks like or who she loves or where she comes from. The landmark laws that he championed — the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, immigration reform, children’s health care, the Family and Medical Leave Act –all have a running thread. Ted Kennedy’s life’s work was not to champion those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding. He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not, and he used that gift to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow.

We can still hear his voice bellowing through the Senate chamber, face reddened, fist pounding the podium, a veritable force of nature, in support of health care or workers’ rights or civil rights. And yet, while his causes became deeply personal, his disagreements never did. While he was seen by his fiercest critics as a partisan lightning rod, that is not the prism through which Ted Kennedy saw the world, nor was it the prism through which his colleagues saw him. He was a product of an age when the joy and nobility of politics prevented differences of party and philosophy from becoming barriers to cooperation and mutual respect – a time when adversaries still saw each other as patriots.

And that’s how Ted Kennedy became the greatest legislator of our time. He did it by hewing to principle, but also by seeking compromise and common cause – not through deal-making and horse-trading alone, but through friendship, and kindness, and humor. There was the time he courted Orrin Hatch’s support for the Children’s Health Insurance Program by having his Chief of Staff serenade the Senator with a song Orrin had written himself; the time he delivered shamrock cookies on a china plate to sweeten up a crusty Republican colleague; and the famous story of how he won the support of a Texas Committee Chairman on an immigration bill. Teddy walked into a meeting with a plain manila envelope, and showed only the Chairman that it was filled with the Texan’s favorite cigars. When the negotiations were going well, he would inch the envelope closer to the Chairman. When they weren’t, he would pull it back. Before long, the deal was done.

It was only a few years ago, on St. Patrick’s Day, when Teddy buttonholed me on the floor of the Senate for my support on a certain piece of legislation that was coming up for vote. I gave him my pledge, but expressed my skepticism that it would pass. But when the roll call was over, the bill garnered the votes it needed, and then some. I looked at Teddy with astonishment and asked how he had pulled it off. He just patted me on the back, and said “Luck of the Irish!”

Of course, luck had little to do with Ted Kennedy’s legislative success, and he knew that. A few years ago, his father-in-law told him that he and Daniel Webster just might be the two greatest senators of all time. Without missing a beat, Teddy replied, “What did Webster do?”

But though it is Ted Kennedy’s historic body of achievements we will remember, it is his giving heart that we will miss. It was the friend and colleague who was always the first to pick up the phone and say, “I’m sorry for your loss,” or “I hope you feel better,” or “What can I do to help?” It was the boss who was so adored by his staff that over five hundred spanning five decades showed up for his 75th birthday party. It was the man who sent birthday wishes and thank you notes and even his own paintings to so many who never imagined that a U.S. Senator would take the time to think about someone like them. I have one of those paintings in my private study – a Cape Cod seascape that was a gift to a freshman legislator who happened to admire it when Ted Kennedy welcomed him into his office the first week he arrived in Washington; by the way, that’s my second favorite gift from Teddy and Vicki after our dog Bo. And it seems like everyone has one of those stories – the ones that often start with “You wouldn’t believe who called me today.”

Ted Kennedy was the father who looked after not only his own three children, but John’s and Bobby’s as well. He took them camping and taught them to sail. He laughed and danced with them at birthdays and weddings; cried and mourned with them through hardship and tragedy; and passed on that same sense of service and selflessness that his parents had instilled in him. Shortly after Ted walked Caroline down the aisle and gave her away at the altar, he received a note from Jackie that read, “On you the carefree youngest brother fell a burden a hero would have begged to be spared. We are all going to make it because you were always there with your love.”

Not only did the Kennedy family make it because of Ted’s love – he made it because of theirs; and especially because of the love and the life he found in Vicki. After so much loss and so much sorrow, it could not have been easy for Ted Kennedy to risk his heart again. That he did is a testament to how deeply he loved this remarkable woman from Louisiana. And she didn’t just love him back. As Ted would often acknowledge, Vicki saved him. She gave him strength and purpose; joy and friendship; and stood by him always, especially in those last, hardest days.

We cannot know for certain how long we have here. We cannot foresee the trials or misfortunes that will test us along the way. We cannot know God’s plan for us.

What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and love, and joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world, so that someday, if we are blessed with the chance to look back on our time here, we can know that we spent it well; that we made a difference; that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on the lives of other human beings.

This is how Ted Kennedy lived. This is his legacy. He once said of his brother Bobby that he need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, and I imagine he would say the same about himself. The greatest expectations were placed upon Ted Kennedy’s shoulders because of who he was, but he surpassed them all because of who he became. We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office. We weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered through pain and tragedy – not for the sake of ambition or vanity; not for wealth or power; but only for the people and the country he loved.

In the days after September 11th, Teddy made it a point to personally call each one of the 177 families of this state who lost a loved one in the attack. But he didn’t stop there. He kept calling and checking up on them. He fought through red tape to get them assistance and grief counseling. He invited them sailing, played with their children, and would write each family a letter whenever the anniversary of that terrible day came along. To one widow, he wrote the following:

“As you know so well, the passage of time never really heals the tragic memory of such a great loss, but we carry on, because we have to, because our loved one would want us to, and because there is still light to guide us in the world from the love they gave us.”

We carry on.

Ted Kennedy has gone home now, guided by his faith and by the light of those he has loved and lost. At last he is with them once more, leaving those of us who grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good he did, the dream he kept alive, and a single, enduring image – the image of a man on a boat; white mane tousled; smiling broadly as he sails into the wind, ready for what storms may come, carrying on toward some new and wondrous place just beyond the horizon. May God Bless Ted Kennedy, and may he rest in eternal peace.

You can find more information about Senator Kennedy’s funeral arrangement, and leave your wishes and remembrances for the family, at TedKennedy.org.

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Connie, a senior and a volunteer with Organizing for America in Florida, sent out an email to fellow seniors yesterday to help set the record straight on some of the rumors and mistruths that have been circulating about health insurance reform:

Special interests and insurance companies are spreading lies and trying to scare seniors into opposing health reform that will help us — just so they can protect their own profits. It’s shameful.

My name is Connie, and I’m a senior and a volunteer with Organizing for America in Florida. I’m working to set the record straight, so I wanted to share with you a list of reasons reform will help seniors.

I’ve already emailed this to folks I know, and printed it out to hand around — please do the same! We all need to get the truth out to as many friends and family as possible to fight these shameful lies.

President Obama’s plan for health insurance reform is good for seniors, because reform…

… will STRENGTHEN Medicare. Reform will improve Medicare’s quality of care by cutting down on paperwork, focusing on wellness and prevention, and rewarding doctors for the care they provide instead of how many procedures they do. This all adds up to more choices and better care. 

… will NOT cut our Medicare benefits. President Obama has clearly said, "nobody is talking about cutting Medicare benefits." And AARP agrees that reform will simply eliminate billions in giveaways via the Medicare Advantage program that boost insurance company profits — but don’t help folks like us. 

… will SAVE us money. Reform will close the doughnut hole in Medicare Part D that’s costing people so much money for prescription drugs, and eliminate co-pays for preventative care like cancer screenings and immunizations.

… will SAVE Medicare in the long run. If we do nothing, costs will keep rising and the Medicare trust fund will be at risk of going bust within a decade. Reform will save Medicare from bankruptcy and ensure we get the care we need for years to come. 

… will HELP our loved ones. I have three children with pre-existing conditions. I live in fear that I will have to mortgage everything to pay for their care if they lose their jobs, and can’t get coverage. Reform will extend coverage for young people, stop insurance companies from charging women more or cutting care when you need it most. And most importantly to me, reform will make it illegal to deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

In so many ways, reform will help every American struggling with our health insurance system — especially seniors.

But insurance companies that want to protect their profits and partisan attack groups that want to weaken President Obama at any cost are spreading rumors to scare folks like us into opposing the reform we need. It’s outrageous.

Each of us probably knows at least one person who is uncertain about reform. So it’s up to us to let our friends and neighbors know that reform will help them, not hurt them.

You can start by forwarding this email to everyone you know today! You can also click here to print out a fact sheet for seniors that you can give to friends and family.

It’s so important to get the truth out about reform.

Thanks,

Connie L.

Florida Volunteer
Organizing for America

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From Arizona Central:

A bus sporting the familiar red, white and blue logo of President Barack Obama’s campaign debuted in central Phoenix on Wednesday evening on the vanguard of a Democratic counteroffensive in support of health-care reform.

Hundreds of supporters rallied at one of the earliest stops on the Democratic National Committee’s "Health Insurance Reform Now: Let’s Get it Done!" bus tour that is part of a campaign that the Democrats promise will include more than a thousand pro-reform events across the country before Congress returns to session in September.

Pat Flickner, a Phoenix Democrat, said she was willing to demonstrate on a hot August night because her daughter, a dog groomer, "works her tail off" but still can’t afford health insurance.

From the Huffington Post:

It was 2008 all over again Wednesday night as Organizing for America (OFA), formerly Obama for America, launched their cross-country "Reform Health Care Now: Let’s Get It Done Tour" from Arizona, a state that has becoming a focus of the Democratic Party.

The event had all of the trappings of a political campaign rally. Songs from Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign blared from a PA system as more than a thousand Obama supporters filed in. Dozens of volunteers roved the crowd signing up new volunteers to phone bank, knock on doors, and do visibility in the street. The Obama logo and health care reform slogans were everywhere — on the bus, on rally signs, on tee shirts, even on a dog sweater…

The opening speaker told her own personal health care story. She was injured the same day as a professional athlete. She followed his progress in the news over the next couple of months as he received treatment, had surgery, and recovered. Although she had the same injury, she says she was forced to go without treatment for a few months because her health insurance company denied her claim. Just as paralysis was beginning to set in, a relative who works for a law firm that practices medical malpractice intervened, and she was able to have the surgery and treatment she needed.

Several local public officials also spoke, and the National Director of OFA, Mitch Stewart also addressed the crowd. Democratic Arizona Representative Kyrsten Sinema, who is a member of Obama’s Special Task Force on Health Reform, told the crowd that most Americans want health reform but that many have been frightened by misinformation circulating around the issue.

"We need your voice!" Sinema told the crowd, "The people with the misinformation and the lies are the ones in front of the microphone, and they’re making people afraid of what they want, what we all need."

From the Washington Post:

The federal government’s month-long "Cash for Clunkers" program ended after having spent almost the entire $3 billion allotted and putting 690,114 new, more fuel-efficient cars on the road, the Transportation Department said Wednesday…

One auto analyst called the program a success, if only because his research showed that it was responsible for saving 39,000 jobs that otherwise would have been eliminated.

"It’s really more substantial than we had thought in terms of stimulus," said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research. "This is companies putting people back to work."

General Motors announced last week that it will reinstate 1,350 workers and add overtime for about 10,000 at three plants, as the automaker replenishes inventory sold during the government program…

"Moribund showrooms were brought back to life and consumers bought fuel-efficient cars that will save them money and improve the environment," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement Wednesday.

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"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die." — Senator Ted Kennedy, 1932-2009

Late last night, Senator Ted Kennedy passed away at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, after a lengthy battle with cancer. In a statement earlier today, President Obama called Senator Kennedy one of the greatest senators of our time, saying:

"His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of lives — in seniors who know new dignity, in families that know new opportunity, in children who know education’s promise, and in all who can pursue their dream in an America that is more equal and more just."

In August of last year, the Democratic National Convention paid tribute to Senator Kennedy with a special retrospective look at his life and his accomplishments. You can watch the video of some of the highlights below:

You can visit TedKennedy.org to learn more. And you can use the comments below to share your thoughts on Senator Kennedy, his life, his work, and the dream he fought so tirelessly for.

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President Obama is scheduled to speak live from Martha’s Vineyard at 9:30 a.m. Eastern on the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy. You can listen to a live audio feed of the President’s remarks below:

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