Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama called on the U.S. Senate to take his push for an overhaul of the U.S. health- care system “to the finish line” following passage of a bill by the House of Representatives.

“Now it falls on the United States Senate to take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people, and I’m absolutely confident that they will,” Obama said in comments today in the Rose Garden at the White House.

In a victory for Obama, the House voted 220-215 yesterday to make the biggest changes in the U.S. health-care system since the enactment of the Medicare program in 1965. The package costs more than $1 trillion over 10 years. It requires all Americans to get insurance coverage, extends coverage to 36 million uninsured Americans and creates a new public program to compete with private companies, among other features.

“Given the heated and often misleading rhetoric surrounding this legislation, I know this was a courageous vote for many members of Congress,” Obama said today of the House’s action.

The focus in the battle over the legislation shifts to the Senate, where Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is scrounging for votes to get debate started. Obama wants to sign a bill by the end of the year.

Reid last week wouldn’t commit to such a goal. “We’re going to do this legislation as expeditiously as we can, but we’re going to do it as fairly as we can also,” Reid told reporters on Nov. 3.

‘Dead on Arrival’

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said today the House measure won’t pass the Senate. “The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” The House bill “was a bill written by liberals for liberals,” he said.

Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent who caucuses with the Democrats, today reiterated his opposition to the current Senate bill because it contains the public-option proposal.

Lieberman said that if that proposal remains in the Senate measure, “as a matter of conscience” he would do his part to “not allow this bill to come to a final vote.”

He made his comments on “Fox News Sunday.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 8, 2009 13:28 EST