GOP
Senators
Warn House: Vote for Senate Health Care Bill Is Vote for
Federally Funded Abortions
Republican senators said Wednesday that House members who vote for the
Senate-passed health care bill would "own it," and that nothing would
be changed through reconciliation, including prohibiting federal
(taxpayer) funds from being used to pay for abortions.
“If (House members) are being told by anybody in their leadership that
they’re going to fix this in reconciliation in the House, it is a pig
in a poke,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told CNSNews.com. “There is no way
that this (abortion funding) can be modified or adjusted through
reconciliation.
“And those pro-life Democrats who held the line in support of the
Stupak language – assuming that reconciliation can correct that – are
being promised something that they can’t deliver on,” Thune said.
“And so I think that if that is the issue that matters to you, and
you’re a House Democrat, then you better think long and hard, because
that’s not going to be a pro-life vote,” he added.
The Stupak amendment to the House health care bill explicitly prohibits
any federal (taxpayer) funds to pay for health insurance plans that
cover abortion. The Senate bill has different language on abortion,
which specifically allows for taxpayer-funding of certain health plans
that cover abortion.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said no “fix” would be made to the Senate
bill through reconciliation on abortion or any other issue.
“Reconciliation only applies to law,” Coburn said. “There can be no
reconciliation unless there’s already a law. Which means the
president
will have to sign the bill for reconciliation to apply to the Senate
health care bill,” Coburn said. “And if it is, what is the motivation
for the Senate to change anything?”
Coburn said in 1965 -- the last time abortion was addressed in
reconciliation in the Senate -- it was rejected, and he added that the
issue would become like “bird droppings” if it was reduced to the
reconciliation process in the case of the Senate-passed health care
bill.
When President Barack Obama held a summit last month to debate health
care reform with members of both parties, House Republican Leader John
Boehner (R-Ohio) told the president directly that federal law has for
decades prevented federal funding of abortions and that the House
health care bill had continued in that tradition.
“For 30 years, we’ve had a federal law that says that we're not going
to have taxpayer funding of abortions,” Boehner said, referring to the
Hyde Amendment that prohibits federal funds from being used for
abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the
mother is endangered.
“We’ve had this debate in the House. It was a very serious debate,”
said Boehner. “But in the House, the House spoke. And the House upheld
the language we have had in law for 30 years, that there will be no
taxpayer funding of abortions,” Boehner said, referring to Rep. Bob
Stupak’s (D-Mich.) amendment to the House bill, which mirrors the
language of the Hyde Amendment.
“This (Senate) bill that we have before us – and there was no reference
to that issue in your outline, Mr. President – begins, for the first
time in 30 years, allows for the taxpayer-funding of abortions,”
Boehner told Obama at the health care summit on Feb. 25.
Obama did not directly address Boehner’s charge about the Senate bill
allowing for federal funds to pay for abortion, but instead suggested
that all that Boehner said was merely the "standard talking points" and
Democrats would "profoundly disagree" with many of them.
Thune, who served in the House before becoming a senator, said promises
to change the Senate bill after it has become law should not be
believed.
“Those of us who served in the House know full well that when you are
told to trust the Senate or, ‘Don’t worry we’ll fix it,’ those are
promises we’ve all heard before,” Thune said. “And believe me we’ve
learned the hard way on many occasions not to believe in those kind of
promises.”
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said that when then President George W. Bush
was trying to get his No Child Left Behind education legislation
passed, the president assured him that the bill would be altered after
it passed so that states would be able to “opt out” of the program.
“It’s still not been fixed, and it won’t be this time either,” DeMint
said.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said that House members should think ahead
to the November mid-term elections before they cast a vote to pass the
Senate health care bill.
“I can assure you that will be the primary issue between now and
November,” Wicker said. “So I would urge my colleagues in the House to
listen to the people and do the political thing, but for heaven’s sake,
do the right thing.”
All four Republican senators said that even if the Senate-passed bill
made it to reconciliation, all 41 Republicans in that body have pledged
to support the “Byrd Rule,” which says that only budget-related items
can be altered in the reconciliation bill, no extraneous matter that
potentially could include the issue of abortion.
Contact: Penny Starr
Source:
CNSNews.com
Publish
Date:
March
11,
2010
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The IFRL is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in
Illinois. A non-profit organization, that serves as the state
coordinating body for local pro-life chapters representing thousands of
Illinois citizens working to restore respect for all human life in our
society. The IFRL is composed of people of different political
persuasions, various faiths and diverse economic, social and ethnic
backgrounds. Since 1973 the Illinois Federation for Right to Life has
been working to end abortion and restore legal protection to those members of the
human family who are threatened by abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. Diverse though we are, we hold one common belief - that
every human being has an inalienable right to life that is precious and must be protected. IFRL is
dedicated to restoring the right to life to the unborn, and protection
for the disabled and the elderly. Click here to learn more about the IFRL.
