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TechnoratiDemocrats to Resolve Abortion Impasse on the House Floor
House Democratic leaders agreed Friday night to settle an impasse over abortion by letting the entire House vote on a proposed solution, a risky decision that could determine the fate of their trillion-dollar overhaul of the nation's health care system.
Under the agreement, anti-abortion Democrats will be permitted to offer an amendment on the House floor to the health-care overhaul bill. The amendment would prohibit a new government-run insurance plan created by the health-care bill from offering to cover abortion services, congressional sources said. It would also block people who received federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance from buying policies that offered coverage for abortions.
The deal clears the way for the dozens of Democratic lawmakers who oppose abortion to lend their support to the health care package, the most dramatic expansion of health coverage in more than 40 years. It also satisfies the demands of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which had threatened to oppose the House bill.
If the amendment from Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) passes, said Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the bishops conference, "we become enthusiastic advocates for moving forward with health care reform."
The amendment is expected to pass with the combined support of more than 40 anti-abortion Democrats and virtually every House Republican. That likelihood meant that leaders of the much larger group of Democrats who support abortion rights were not happy to learn of the deal.
"There will be no abortion, not just with public funds, but with private funds under the public option, and that's not acceptable," said Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.).
House leaders met with that bloc of Democrats late Friday to try to quell their frustration., but the agreement makes clear that they believe abortion-rights Democrats will find it difficult to vote against the health-care bill even with such a restriction attached to it.
"This is a small facet of the bill that's very important to a lot of people," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), adding that the greater goal is to pass legislation that makes health care "affordable and accessible to all Americans."
Abortion-rights Democrats said Friday that they were willing to accept only limited revisions to the health-care package.
Upon learning of Friday night's deal, the Planned Parenthood Federation of American quickly fired off a statement from president Cecile Richards opposing the amendment. Such a measure, Richards said, would effectively force private insurers to drop coverage of abortion in order to offer their policies through the new insurance exchanges.
"The fact is, the majority of private health insurance plans currently offer abortion coverage," Richards said, adding that the Stupak amendment "upends the carefully crafted compromise in the House bill and unambiguously restricts women's access to care."
Stiffening the backbone of those who oppose abortion was the bishops' conference, which circulated a letter late Friday arguing that without such an explicit prohibition in the bill, the legislation could otherwise force individuals who oppose abortion to indirectly subsidize the procedure with their tax dollars.
The disagreement, and Saturday's proposed resolution, sets the stage for a messy fight in the middle of the day's debate over President Obama's top domestic initiative. And House leaders must still address a separate dispute within the House Democratic caucus over immigration policy.
Hispanic lawmakers said they had received assurances from House leaders that the health bill would not be changed to bar undocumented workers from purchasing insurance through newly created insurance marketplaces. Language promoted by the White House and adopted by the Senate Finance Committee would establish such a barrier.
Hispanic lawmakers said they remained concerned, however, that Republicans would attempt a parliamentary maneuver to add the provision to the bill -- and that the maneuver would attract enough votes from conservative Democrats to win approval. Republican aides declined Friday to say whether they were planning such a move.
House leaders were working late Friday to secure assurances from about 20 Hispanic Democrats that they would vote for the health-care package regardless. Hispanic lawmakers, for their part, were seeking Pelosi's commitment to try to prevent Democratic defections.
The health-care bill would spend more than $1 trillion over the next decade to expand coverage to 36 million additional Americans by expanding Medicaid and creating a new insurance marketplace where people could shop for a variety of policies, including a government-run insurance option. Low- and moderate-income people would be eligible for federal subsidies to help them cover the cost of premiums, and to reduce their co-payments and other out-of-pocket expenses.
As written, the bill would permit those insurance plans to provide abortion services so long as the procedure was paid for with private premium dollars, rather than any government subsidies, a position supported by Democrats who support abortion rights.
Anti-abortion lawmakers, led by Stupak, demanded more ironclad commitments that public funding would not be used for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. That standard has been applied to federal programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, for more than 30 years.
To try to bridge the divide, Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) proposed that private insurance plans be required to clearly segregate public and private funds. The Ellsworth proposal also would require the hiring of a private contractor to handle funds for abortion services.
Stupak and other abortion opponents were not satisfied. Doerflinger of the bishops conference called the Ellsworth plan well-intentioned but "an accounting gimmick."
"The Catholic bishops are a very important group, to especially a lot of the Catholic members and people from districts with large Catholic populations," House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) noted Friday. "The problem is that we have a very fragile situation. You give somebody a vote one way and we lose people on the other side."
Negotiations between the two camps consumed much of the day Friday, as representatives from the warring factions shuttled into and out of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office just off the Capitol Rotunda. A deal was finally struck shortly before 9:30 p.m., sending Stupak to the House Rules Committee to request official permission to offer his amendment -- permission that was finally granted shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday.
After the deal was struck, annoyed pro-choice leaders filed out of Pelosi's office to confer with their supporters.
45 Comments so far
Show AllWhen was the last time you heard the sadistic Catholic Bishops express concern for innocent victims slaughtered by U.S. troops and weapons? The Catholic church (as well as most other churches) and the U.S. Congress are like a den of vampires.
Anyone who is still registered as a Democrat by Monday and the latest Tuesday has nothing to complain about either....
Any of you here complaining now, if you have a spine yourselves, then I suggest being an adult and removing your name from the Democratic Party.
Otherwise, shut the hell up!!!
The Dems don't give a rat's ass about ya!!!!
Join the Green Party or be an unaffiliated voter.
calm down. what did you expect? and if you did expect something else... remember that fool me once thing? what do we say to people who have been fooled a thousand times and still ask for more?.
calm down. what did you expect? and if you did expect something else... remember that fool me once thing? what do we say to people who have been fooled a thousand times and still ask for more?.
Democratic Party has just caved into the Christian Crazies/Nutcases and the Catholic Church!!!!!
The Democrats are good for nothing LOSERS!!!!!!
Man, these Democrats are COWARDS!!!!
The GOP Fascists only get stronger because of weaklings like the Spineless and Pathetic Democrats!!!!
Just as in Nazi Germany, the opposition was too chickensh** to stand up to Hitler's Nazi Party, so, too is the case in the USA. When Fascism comes to America in its most extreme form, you can have the Democratic Party to thank for being so weak and the greatest enablers of these Fascist scum on the right wing GOP.
The Democrats no longer stand for ANYTHING!!!
"Cave," the dems middle name!
So simple, even a caveman can do it!
· Yr Obd't Servant
Let me guess...Viagra and Cialis are still perfectly okay by the politicians and should be taxpayer-funded? Engineered erections are fine and dandy but contraception and abortion are somehow the worst thing ever? Uh...
And prayer "treatments" are still in there and should be taxpayer-funded? The same "treatment" that allows for actual, fully-formed children to die in agony while everyone stands around making what is essentially a wish?
Not entirely surprised, but disappointed all the same. Corrupt cowards, all of them. I mean really, the Republicans would just steamroll everything through whether the Dems liked it or not. Really shows where the loyalty of the Dems is that they won't do the same with a bill that would actually help people.
I once tried to find numbers on how much money is spent of advertising Viagra and Cialis. Whatever the number is, it is money collected from premiums and prescriptions. It is part of the cost of health care. Congress lets the drug companies write this off as an expense. So the drug companies don't pay taxes on that amount, but they do collect it--one way or another--from us. Did Congress even consider stopping the fairly recent practice of letting drug companies advertise?
I had forgotten about the prayer groups. Amazing. This bill has money for that, but wants to play political football with women's health. You know how they talk about "competition" across state lines? I'm guessing that will mean a race to the bottom, that the state with the crappiest insurance regulation, probably Texas, will become the national standard in this "competition." No doubt it will mean a return to women not having birth control covered while we continue to subsidize the nonstop advertising of recreational erection pills.
There are two kinds of people in the world. People who believe Quality of Life pertains to healthy individuals, families, and communities, in which everyone has access to clean air, food, water and gainfull employment / productivity / creativity, ...and those who believe that there is a hiarchy of humanity and that the strong, aggressive, and well appointed deserve the lion's share. Only one of these types of people succeeds in today's politics - and it doesn't matter which party they claim membership in. That Americans have continued to believe there is a difference in the parties proves that they have never had active participation in the "democratic process". Anyone who has served in either party, knows how the system is played. In either party policy has very little to do with taking care of people and everything to do with forcing agendas. Democracy only works when people are participating... for so long we have paid representatives to take care of things - we failed to notice when they drove the ship aground and then began charging us to pay the looters. The system is broken. Letters, and protests no longer seem to affect the dynamic. When a population of over a million diverse individuals with diverse views are represented by 2 senators and 2 reps... how on earth can THAT work? Especially when the only sort that get far enough to be elected have had to fight every inch of the way to get THEIR own say! It's a ludicrous and outmoded form of govt. We don't need representatives - We need our own voices heard!
Live Simply So That Others May Simply Live
A piece of shit Public Option is made even worse. What else is new? Once a wimp, always a wimp.
another round of the circular democratic firing squad.
say what you might about republicans but they dislike
something they fix it their way. all for one. this bill
is so thoroughly evil and flawed that it will do very
little to help anyone except big business. its time
to pick someone in your local political circle and
see if they will run a primary against one of these bastards.
its time to tear down our current government and replace
it with one accountable to us.
another round of the circular democratic firing squad.
say what you might about republicans but they dislike
something they fix it their way. all for one. this bill
is so thoroughly evil and flawed that it will do very
little to help anyone except big business. its time
to pick someone in your local political circle and
see if they will run a primary against one of these bastards.
its time to tear down our current government and replace
it with one accountable to us.
Control women's bodies and you control the world.
Control a man's "member" and he goes nuts.
Man's lack of self control is the source of most problems in the world.
All women know this.
At least you & I do ezeflyer.
We have watched our Constitution and Bill of Rights being shredded by both of the Oligarchy's bought parties for many years. Roe vs Wade was a great victory for women, for all of us. Now, we are being forced back to the rusty coathanger in the back room and many poor women dying of sepsis. Of course the wealthy can still go to Sweden for a "vacation."
So sad to see this once great country walking lockstep with Nazi Germany into the abyss.
I agree with everyone. This bill is worthless. It's a real joke and only going to get worse after the Senate version is passed. Obama must veto this bill when it come across his desk.
Healthcare reform is a charade.
Congress is wasting America's time.
That's probably why they took their annual and automatic pay raise this year, because they're so proud to be useless to us.
2010: Sweep out the House
This is outrageous!
Trust the Washington Post to fan the flames on this one. Stupid right-wing rag. Don't read it. Use it to line the bottom of your birdcage.
Congress might just as well review every medical procedure known and decide whether or not it should be covered.
IDIOTS! - on both sides of the aisle.
Abortion is a legal medical procedure and it doesn't matter if they agree with it or not. It is the law. Keep the Catholic Church & all other churches out of this. If ONE procedure can be prohibited, all procedures can be prohibited. Will they prohibit vasectomies and surgery for prostate cancer? I don't need a quadruple by-pass because I have lived a life of excess, so lets prohibit those too. Cancer treatment is really expensive. Will they also prohibit those?
This whole process has been a complete waste of time & energy.
This bill MUST NOT PASS.
It is shaping up to be worse that the current state of coverage.
Reinstate the Kucinich Amendment and set the stage for what the people want - Universal Single-Payer.
I swear, Congress is WORSE than the health insurance thieves.
So, whether you are Pro-Choice, or Pro-NO Choice, you have to see that this amendment is another example of discrimination against the poor. They will be the only ones affected. They will be the only ones receiving the govt. subsidy. Those not receiving a subsidy can buy insurance that does provide that Choice. I really get tired, with all the bickering and arguing and posturing over this and than in one bill or another, that the bottom line is ALWAYS supported on the shoulders of the POOR!
johntwodogs
"this amendment is another example of discrimination against the poor" AND WOMEN.
DAMNED MISOGYNISTS!!
They have hated women since we got the right to vote.
Women will revert to what they did prior to legal abortion and then they will be eligible to have their "complications" covered.
I'm for creating a new party that works on behalf of the true needs of the people, but how do we keep any new party from becoming as corrupt as the two we have now? It's a huge situation. Any new party that becomes successful will be pounced on by the cretins. (lobbyists, corporatists, et al).
The Green Party is a party worth fighting for. No party is perfect but that doesn't mean keeping the status quo.
Here's the abridged version:
Reasons To Avoid The Democratic Party
The Democrats are just a faction of the enemy -- not allies in any sense. They are not the "lesser evil;" they are an auxiliary subdivision of the same evil. They have betrayed us beyond all possible reconciliation, and are more truly allies of the Republicans than they are "friends" of ours. It's just a fallacy to believe that the Democrats can somehow be transformed into a political force defending the interests of the broader public. That's not what they are. That they dare posture as the "party of the people" is an insult to our collective intelligence. In reality, they use this tattered & tired popular image to collude with the rightwing, confuse the public, & sell us out at every turn.
This is a party ready for the dustbin of history. The only "help" we should give them is helping them get there. We should focus on laying the groundwork for a party that genuinely represents our interests, not helping to resurrect a disgraced & decaying enemy.
The point is that both US parties are big-business parties, responsive ONLY to the needs & desires of corporations. The personnel of both parties are tightly linked to lobbyists. Both parties are stuffed to the gills with consultants, fund-raisers, careerist apparatchiks, connections in the MSM, & so on. All together, this forms an institutional structure that is completely unresponsive to the needs and aspirations of ordinary people.
Whonnnnnngk. Click. Beep. (crackle)
Thank you for calling PolitiChoice®. Your call is important to us, so please stay on the line.
... If you would like to pursue reform from within the Democratic Party, press 1.
If you would like to effectively counter the DLC within an existing mainstream political party, press 2.
If you would like to help with DFA, press 3.
If you miss the seventies and want to join the DSOC/DSA discussion group, press 4.
If you would like to feel "underground" from the comfort of rightward-drifting centrism that calls itself "left," press 5.
If you don't know which button to press, press 6 and you'll be directed to the appropriate caucus. ...
Thank you for calling PolitiChoice®. Please bear in mind that internal reform is the only permissible focus only permissible focus only permissible...
-Thank you ... (crackle, click)
Dear Democratic Party,
Please keep sending me pleas for money so I can keep telling you to go to hell.
Yours in burka,
P.S. If you care so much about procreation, stop the advertising and payments for erectile dysfunction pills. The Catholic church should be against procreation for recreation.
Pitch Fork: You're right of course. I'm older too and am shocked at what I'm witnessing.
All of these shenanigans are just wasting time. The bill has only one feature that is desirable - prohibiting insurance companies from discriminating on the basis of prior conditions. But it does not seem to prohibit them from refusing payments for any trumped-up reason, so the prior condition rule is useless.
As it stands, the bill is worthless, so whatever is done to it does not matter. Perhaps some day reason will prevail and a single-payer system will be developed. As the Israelites used to say: "next year in Jerusalem."
To be fair, it also expands medicaid eligibility to a considerable degree, and provides federal insurance premium subsidies to people at up to 300% of the poverty line.
As far as abortions, except for rape, incest and when the live of the mother is in danger, they were never covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and most private insurance plans that I know of. So, this provision isn't changing anything.
The national universal health care plans in Canada and other parts of the civilized world cover abortions. We need to get to genuine healthcare-for-all first.
pjd412
Women don't get pregnant without male sperm. Men make abortion a women's issue. They totally ignore their own participation in creating life. Such legislation perpetuates this lie.
It should not even be part of the discussion.
CORRECT
"The national universal health care plans in Canada and other parts of the civilized world cover abortions. We need to get to genuine healthcare-for-all ..." my edit.
This is extortion plain and simple. Either Pelosi and the Dems get a backbone and quit pandering to these extortionists, or we vote them out of office next November, start over, and get real with healthcare. Unrestricted, universal, single-payer healthcare for all.
And, whatever comes out of reconciliation, we already know now, is going to be a watered down, meaningless bill. Obama MUST veto the final bill. We've got to start standing up to these RePugs and their stealth allies in the Dem party NOW.
Obama veto the bill? This bill is his Big Win. This is being jammed through this weekend with all the right arm twisting so he can say he passed a bill. He couldn't care less about women's health or rights. I am old. Abortion rights mean nothing to me. But it is an unacceptable insult to have this pandering corrupt congress presume to have power over women, the young women who supported this party.
Single-payer OR SINGLE-TERM abortions for DEM all! Taxpaid, of course!!
And this "compromise" occurs even BEFORE the process of reconciling the House and Senate bills.
I only hope that by now everyone who worked so hard trying to drum up support for Obama's health insurance reform realizes they were duped. We are going to get the worst possible result for the public (additional years of delay in meaningful healthcare reform) and the best possible result for the insurance companies (compulsory purchase of an expensive and defective product).
I am outraged that the leaders of our country--while benefitting from universal single-payer coverage themselves--find it acceptable to doom thousands to suffering and death due to lack of coverage.
In the entire Vietnam War, 58,000 American soldiers died and it was a national trauma. Now, 45,000 die each year for want of health insurance, and this is passed off as normal experience, regretable but unavoidable.
Welcome to the new Dark Age.
Yes, all the young women, many of them poor, who supported Obama didn't realize they would be welcomed to a new Dark Age.
I don't believe in war. My taxes support it.
I don't believe in bailouts for banksters. My taxes support it.
Come to think of it, I don't believe in Congress, but my taxes support it and even pay for their healthcare.
This has got to be the end of the Democratic Party. The approximately one half who are women should not stand for being made pawns again to satisfy some smuck named Stupak and a council of clerics.
It may be the end of the Democratic Party. Now, how to get rid of the Republican party?
So...go with your conscience and stop paying taxes for murder, welfare for the wealthy , and a system totally gone south. If more followed their conscience instead of buying into FEAR and complaining behind a keyboard (nothing personal aimed at you), maybe we would get the CHANGE that Obummer lied to us about. None of the things you "don't believe in" MIGHT start to unravel. BUT it will take "We the People" to work together and gel into a large voice to cut the purse strings and I don't see that happening.
BUT it will take "We the People" to work together and gel into a large voice to cut the purse strings
--------------------------
Succinct and bang on the money (pi).
Incredible! This bill will get no Republican support and could conceivably pass without a single Republican vote and the Democrats propose an amendment to ban low income people needing federal assistance from choosing plans that cover abortions. This is in contrast to the historical public rhetoric in which Democrats have fought for the rights of choice. Apparently it was hot air. This amendment isn't about getting bipartisan support, rather it is a display of the Democrat party's move to the right, in other words, we have a one party system. Vote independent!
"House Dems Cave"
this is not news.
Yeah, my first thought was "another 'Dog Bites Man'" story.
· Yr Obd't Servant
Me, too.
So this is your party of the people that you suckers out there who voted for Democrats want? No other developed nation in the world would deny universal healthcare or ban legalized abortions. The anti-abortion Democrats should know better than to copy Adolf Hitler's slashing the middle class and banning abortions. He was a "Christian".
Another assault on Democrats which purposefully ignores the fact that the republicans are the driving force behind the restriction of women's reproductive rights. Only some Dems oppose single payer and legal abortions while virtually all of the republicans do.
I don't like the Dems either but excoriating them while ignoring the manifold sins of the republicans is dishonest.
q
I don't support Republicans and I don't support all Democrats who aid the Republicans. I voted Wallace in '68, Nixon twice, Reagan twice, Perot twice, and Nader thrice. It doesn't matter if it's a Republican or a Democrat who's pushing for anti-abortion. The Democrats have the majority to stop it and anyone of them who sides with the Republicans is a Republican.