A MODERATED CONVERSATION ON HEALTHCARE
MONDAY, November 9, 2009, 6:30 p.m.
Free. Reservations required. Please call 215.409.6700 or order online.
Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach
F.M. Kirby Auditorium
National Constitution Center
Independence Mall
525 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA
The effort to reform the nation’s health care system and to establish for the first time a federal government obligation to make sure that all citizens have access to affordable health insurance is at the center of a sometimes heated national debate. In a speech to a joint session of Congress in September, President Obama declared, “I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.” As Congress and the Obama administration struggle to agree on the nature of reform, the National Constitution Center hosts a moderated discussion on health care with former Senators Rick Santorum and Harris Wofford. Senators Santorum and Wofford bring years of experience in government, deep knowledge about health care reform and share a desire for a civil conversation on this important subject.
Rick Santorum served as the Congressman from Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District from 1991 to 1995 and as the Commonwealth’s junior United States Senator from 1995 to 2007. From 2001 to 2007, Senator Santorum served as the Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, the third highest ranking member of the Republican leadership and the highest ranking Pennsylvanian to serve in Washington in over three decades. While representing Pennsylvania in Washington, Santorum spearheaded the passage of a wide-range of legislation such as the landmark Welfare Reform Act, Partial-Birth Abortion Act, Health Savings Accounts, and the Iran Freedom and Support Act. He served on several important committees, including the Senate Armed Services Committee for 8 years and the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees all healthcare legislation, for 6 years. Santorum is now a Senior Fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center and President of Mpower Media.
Harris Wofford represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1991 to 1994. He brought universal health care into the national spotlight by making it a core issue of his campaign and Senate service. He served as Gov. Casey’s Secretary of Labor and Industry. He was president of Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, PA from 1970 to 1978. In the 1960s, Wofford served as President Kennedy’s Special Assistant for Civil Rights, and worked closely with Sargent Shriver in organizing the Peace Corps. Later he served as the Peace Corps’ Special Representative to Africa and its Associate Director. In 1949 he and his wife Clare had a fellowship in India to study Gandhi, after which they wrote the book India Afire. Wofford became an advisor to Martin Luther King in the 1950s after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. After Rick Santorum defeated him in 1994, Wofford was appointed by President Clinton to be CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps, the Senior Corps, Service-Learning and other national service programs. He is the author five books, including Of Kennedys and Kings: Making Sense of the Sixties.
Mark Preston moderates. As CNN’s political editor, he helps oversee the network’s day-to-day and long-term political coverage. He also serves as an on-air political analyst on CNN/US, CNN International, HLN, and CNN.com. In 2008, Preston won a Peabody Award for the network’s coverage of the Presidential Primary Campaigns and Debates. Additionally, he received Syracuse University’s i-3 Mirror Award for the YouTube presidential debates, an EPpy Award for Best News/Politics Blog, and an Emmy Award for CNN’s Midterm Election Night programming. Prior to joining CNN, Preston was a senior staff writer for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.
The Knight Constitutional Conversation series has been generously underwritten by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of the U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects with the potential to create transformational change. For more, visit http://www.knightfoundation.org/.
For reservations please call 215.409.6700 or order online. Programs at the National Constitution Center begin promptly and latecomers may not be admitted to the program. Please note that this program is subject to change.
Related Links:
Rick Santorum
Harris Wofford