Obama continues to press the importance of health reform

"Praising and prodding Congress at once, President Barack Obama on Wednesday said a vast reform of the nation's health insurance system is required to head off instability to families, industry and the government itself." He gave his remarks from the White House Rose Garden, where he was surrounded by nurses "to make his point," the Associated Press reports.

"Deferring reform is nothing more than defending the status quo - and those who would oppose our efforts should take a hard look at just what it is they're defending," Obama said, just hours after the Senate health committee voted through a health reform proposal that aims to "expand health insurance to nearly all Americans" (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/15).

The American Nurses Association "represents 2.9 million registered nurses in America, Obama said, who are 'men and women who know as well as anyone the urgent need for health reform,'" the Hill reports (Youngman, 7/15).

CBS News: "Nurses do their part every time they check another healthy patient out of the hospital. It's time for us to do our part," Obama said (Condon, 7/15).