Americans desperately need both health care reform and jobs. Even if it's difficult for many to make the connection, it's still possible for the nation to try to do two important things at the same time.

From the start, Republicans have remembered the lesson of 1994. Now, as they prepare to vote, House Democrats should remember the lesson as well so as not to repeat that failure again.

The passage of Obama's health care reform bill is the biggest thing Congress has done in decades, and has enormous political significance for the future.

There is no great mystery about what the federal government needs to do. It must mount a frontal attack on unemployment proportional to the problem.