Around 40 Dems line up against federal abortion funding in healthcare bill
By Jordan Fabian – The Hill 10/24/09
Approximately 40 House Democrats are prepared to block healthcare reform legislation from coming to the floor should the bill include federal subsidies for abortions, said Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) Friday.Stupak, who is conservative on social issues, told CNS News that he has organized the voting bloc to support his amendment that would strip the abortion provisions from the legislation. House Rules Committee chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), according to Stupak, said that there is "no way" her panel would provide a vote for his amendment.
The group of 40 would join House Republicans in voting against procedural measure that would draft rules for debating the bill on the House floor. Passage of the measure is necessary for the House to hold a floor vote.
"There’s about 40 like-minded Democrats like myself -- we’ll try to take down the rule," Stupak said. “If all 40 of us vote in a bloc against the rule -- because we think the Republicans will join us -- we can defeat the rule. The magic number is 218. If we can have 218 votes against the rule, we win.”
With 177 Republicans in the House, Stupak would need at least 41 Democrats to cross the aisle and vote against the rule. Stupak's amendment was originally defeated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee during mark-up.
Under language in the Energy and Commerce proposal, one health plan in each health care "exchange" that sells public health insurance must provide coverage for abortion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is currently in the process of merging the House's three health bills.
“We’re just finishing our conferencing on this legislation,” Pelosi told CNS. “We haven’t even gone through the procedure as to what we’ll do on the floor, if there even are any amendments on the floor.”
ACTION ALERT from Evangelicals for Social Action and Americans United for Life
Americans United for Life (AUL) is working against time to support the efforts of Stupak and other pro-lifers on the Hill, meeting with Congressmen to ensure they know what’s at stake if the health care reform bill is not amended to protect life. Even as House members express determination to remove abortion from the House bill, AUL has learned that Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leadership are working hard to convince pro-life members of Congress that the Capps Amendment “compromise” prevents abortion funding and coverage.
Please, call your Congressman and tell him/her that the Capps Amendment is not a compromise. The Stupak/Pitts language must be included in the House bill.
Guess again, Chief:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000011383.cfm
I know you're pretty eager to dis Focus, but maybe this one was an over-reach, eh?
Okay,
ReplyDeleteSo on Citizen Link, they have the same blurb from AUL. Good for them.
Let's hear good old James Dobson take time out on his radio show to praise Bart Stupak as one of us. Won't happen. He's in the wrong political party.
How many of these 40 Pro-Life Democrats were invited to the "Value Voters Summit" this year?
This is encouraging news. I do wish our conservative Christian and Republican leaders would have a more vocal support of these "other party" members who stand with us on issues. We so readily beat on our political opponents that when it comes time to stand with them in support of something so important we can't seem to find our voices...sad.
ReplyDeleteYAY!!
ReplyDeleteIt passed!
Our prayers are answered. Glory to God.
That's good news! If we're going to have this awful thing, at least it won't pay for abortions. One tiny silver lining!
ReplyDelete