March 5, 2010
By Laura Litvan March 5 (Bloomberg) — U.S. House leaders are facing the possible defection of about a dozen anti-abortion Democrats from a health-care bill just as lawmakers enter their final push for the landmark legislation in Congress. Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan said Senate-passed language on abortion isn’t acceptable to him and the other lawmakers in the bloc, and that if the issue isn’t resolved they will vote against the broader health legislation. “We’re prepared to take responsibility” for the defeat of the bill, Stupak said yesterday on ABC Television’s “Good Morning America” program. “I want to see health care, but we’re not going to bypass some principles and belief we feel strongly about.” His comments underscore the risk the abortion issue poses as congressional Democrats seek to pass a measure overhauling the nation’s health-care system with no Republican support. “It’s probably the biggest challenge we have,” said Representative Bill Pascrell , a New Jersey Democrat. The legislation passed the House on Nov. 7 with just 220 of 435 votes, and the potential loss of support over abortion may be enough to sink the bill. Some House Democrats who favor abortion rights have said their votes also may hinge on how the matter is addressed. Echoes of Past Abortion policy has delayed — or killed outright — past legislation ranging from a rewrite of bankruptcy law to foreign aid and military spending measures. To avoid that fate last year, Democratic leaders in both chambers let anti-abortion lawmakers attach tougher restrictions to the health legislation, President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority. Stupak took the lead in the House, while Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska provided Democrats in that chamber with the 60th vote needed to clear the health measure after he negotiated abortion language. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday the Senate language should satisfy those who oppose federal funding for abortions. “If you believe that there should be no federal funding of abortions and if you believe there should be no change in the policy and if you believe we need health care for all Americans, then we will pass the bill,” she told reporters. Democratic leaders say they’ll try to approve health legislation by first pushing the Senate bill through the House. Then each chamber would address a host of changes through separate legislation via a parliamentary maneuver called budget reconciliation, which would allow the Senate to pass it with just 51 votes, sidestepping Republican opposition. Up to Pelosi Democratic leaders said because reconciliation is designed for matters that relate to the federal budget, not social policy, it can’t be used to resolve abortion differences. Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin , an Illinois Democrat, said it will be up to Pelosi to find the votes in her caucus for the Senate language. “She’s got to deal with this,” Durbin said. The broader legislation, which will cost about $1 trillion over 10 years, is intended to ratchet down health costs and extend coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans, offering government subsidies to low-income people. The president, who this week called on Congress to have an up-or-down vote on health care in the next few weeks, met yesterday at the White House with members of the House Progressive Caucus to shore up their support. He pledged to push in the future for ideas championed by the group, including a government insurance option to compete with private insurers, said Representative Raul Grijalva , an Arizona Democrat, who co-chairs the group. Same-Day Signing “Down the road, we’ll continue to work on these issues,” Grijalva said. Grijalva said Obama told the lawmakers he intends to sign both the Senate-passed bill and the reconciliation bill on the same day. The abortion issue may get in the way. Richard Doerflinger, the top lobbyist for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops , agreed with Stupak that a dozen House Democrats will oppose a final measure if the Senate abortion language is in it. They include Representative Brad Ellsworth of Indiana and Representative James Oberstar of Minnesota, he said. “Those members are standing firm,” said Doerflinger. The House health bill restricts federal dollars from being used to pay for insurance plans that include abortion coverage. The Stupak amendment would bar the use of new federal subsidies to pay the costs of any plans covering abortion offered through a new insurance-purchasing exchange. ‘Ban on Abortion’ In the Senate bill, the federal Office of Personnel Management would oversee at least two multistate insurance programs in the exchange. At least one would provide abortion coverage and one wouldn’t. States could opt out of having any plan with abortion coverage. Groups such as the National Right to Life Committee say the Senate language is unacceptable because it would let one plan in each market allow abortion coverage. Pro-choice groups are lobbying against abortion provisions in both the House and Senate bills. Nancy Keenan , president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said the Stupak language would effectively block private plans on the exchange from offering abortion coverage for many lower-income women. “It is a ban on abortion in the exchange,” she said. To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net
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November 7, 2009
By Nicole Gaouette and James Rowley Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) — The House voted to restrict the use of federal funds for abortion, limiting access to the procedure for people who use an insurance-purchasing exchange that would be created in pending U.S. health-care legislation. The 240-194 vote for the amendment included the support of 64 Democrats in addition to Republicans. It came as lawmakers considered a larger bill designed to cover 36 million uninsured Americans and curb rising medical costs. “I am not writing a new federal abortion policy,” Michigan Representative Bart Stupak , who sponsored the amendment, said in floor debate tonight. The amendment will preserve the “principle of no public funding of abortion and no public funding of insurance policies that pay for abortion.” Stupak had threatened to join with fellow Democrats to block consideration of his party’s health bill over the issue. That prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to agree to allow the vote to clear the way for debate on the legislation. Earlier today, Pelosi predicted her chamber would pass the most sweeping U.S. health-care changes in four decades as President Barack Obama urged Congress to “rise to this moment.” “We will be making history with our vote,” Pelosi told reporters after she and fellow Democrats met with Obama on Capitol Hill. “We will pass health-care reform.” Another Battle Looms Still, a later fight over abortion looms as supporters of abortion rights vowed to oppose any final measure that included the restriction. The Senate is struggling to find consensus on its own plan and later would work with the House on a compromise, if both chambers pass their versions. The 10-year health-care plan’s $1 trillion price tag and its creation of a government-run program to compete with private health insurers represents the biggest changes to health care since the 1965 creation of the Medicare program for the elderly. It would require Americans to get insurance, set up insurance- purchasing exchanges for people who don’t have employer-provided benefits, and provide subsidies to help people obtain coverage. Stupak and other anti-abortion Democrats voiced concern that lower-income Americans in the proposed health-insurance exchanges could use federal subsidies to pay for abortions. On the other side, a coalition of 190 lawmakers who favor access to legal abortion say they would oppose any final measure that makes it harder for women to gain access to the procedure. Threat to Bill “This is an issue that emerged, with the potential of bringing down the bill,” said Representative Janice Schakowsky , an Illinois Democrat, in an interview. If the additional restrictions make it into the final version of the bill, “many of us couldn’t support it at the end of the day,” she said. “To say that this amendment is a wolf in sheep’s clothing would be an understatement of a lifetime,” said Colorado Representative Diana DeGette during floor debate. It “will be the greatest restriction of a women’s right to choose” passed by Congress “in our career.” One Democrat who favors abortion rights, however, Virginia Representative Gerald Connolly , said the Stupak amendment is “not adding new restrictions” and is only “extending existing provisions” to a new government-subsidized program. “I don’t believe that is an unfair ask for the Pro-Life Caucus,” Connolly told reporters. The provision — which would force women who purchase health insurance with a government subsidy to buy a special rider for abortion coverage with their own money — is no different than the longtime rules for federal government workers, said Connolly, who represents the Virginia suburbs of Washington. Bigger Picture The amendment won’t threaten the vote on the overall health-care measure because many Democrats who favor abortion rights will look at the bigger picture, said California Representative Mike Thompson . “We all recognize it’s one step closer to providing quality, affordable health care” and “we will move on to the next step,” Thompson said. To contact the reporters on this story: Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net ; Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net
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