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Is there anyone who did not see this coming, besides the over hundred Democrats in the House who call themselves pro-choice? Ben Nelson (D-NE) is now demanding the Senate also include the Stupak amendment language. Did anyone really think the Senate’s conservative Democrats would let any part of the House bill be to the right of the Senate? If Nelson gets his way (and when hasn’t Nelson gotten his way this year?), so much for “don’t worry, Obama will fix it in conference.” From Politico,
“Senator Nelson is strongly pro-life and was pleased the Stupak amendment passed with such strong support,” Thompson said in a statement. “He believes that no federal money—including subsidies or tax credits–should be used to buy insurance coverage for abortion. This is a very important issue to Senator Nelson and it is highly unlikely he would support a bill that doesn’t clearly prohibit federal dollars from going to abortion.”
It is a good thing NARAL and Planned Parenthood did not put up a fight before the Stupak amendment was added to the House bill. It is always so much easier to push things to the left in the Senate. . . .
If these groups are serious about protecting a woman’s right to choose, they better start looking into reconciliation.
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Senator Nelson is strongly pro-life
No he’s not. He’s strongly pro-coathanger. And he loves war too, as long as it’s not his kids doing the fighting.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-angell-md/is-the-house-health-care_b_350190.html
If we’re lucky, Lieberman will filibuster it.
well said, dkmich. i want lieberman to filibuster not so much because reconciliation will produce a very different bill, but just to piss off those who believe in Senate tradition.
Is there language in Stupak relating to Health of the Mother or Rape?
Hurray dk!
What did I say about bullshit again?
A deal breaker.
Period.
one of many dealbreakers. But this one is a slap to the face!! and a backstab!!
I think back to 1935 and the birth of Social Security. Was only available to white men, except those who were farm workers (b/c opening it to farm laborers might have meant a black man somewhere would have accidentally gotten Social Security).
For everyone to get covered took another 15 years of fighting.
We are living the same horseshit over again. We are not any more advanced then we were 80 years ago.
Okay, another question about reconciliation: when does that decision get made? Will Harry bring the bill to the floor under “regular order” hoping Lieberman (and now Nelson) will come along at the end of the debate despite their protestations now? And then, if these two (and others) remain stubborn and won’t vote to end debate, can the “regular order” be overturned so reconciliation rules apply?
Or do we need to count on Harry’s counting skills from the beginning? And count on his trust in Lieberman as well?
You think?
America’s Rovian Knot & Obama’s Folly
This isn’t about counting votes, or what’s likely to emerge from conference on health care reform.
Karl Rove’s plan advances apace. If the republicans had really been serious about winning in 2008, they never would have nominated the Manchurian Candidate & Caribou Barbie. Their leadership knew that after eight years of Bush/Cheney wrecking the country economically, financially, socially, diplomatically, militarily, and constitutionally, they could dump this catastrophe on a democratic president with majorities in both houses of congress and blithely run against their own failures by branding them as Obama’s.
Stupak/Nelson is a political suicide pact with independent thinking women across the nation. Without their vote in 2010 & 2012, this will be a one term administration.
Note to Rahm: Don’t bring a rhetorical knive to a tactical nuclear results exchange, unless you fully intend to lose and then cash your chips in on K Street.
P.S. Counting on the teabaggers to self immolate the republican party before 2012 won’t save democrats who are rope-a-doping themselves into a bottomless pit of political ignominy.
I have a (probably) stupid question. Why the hell do the people who write the bills allow these people to add amendments to a bill they aren’t even going to vote for? Do we really think Ben Nelson will vote for a bill with a public option… period? it seems to me that we don’t get anything positive out of these negotiations.