Language in the Senate health-care bill allowing tax dollars to go to health plans that cover abortion played a large role in the legislation's apparent demise, according to Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa).
So did "carve outs" -- or special agreements Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made with certain senators to give their states extra Medicaid funding in exchange for voting in favor of the bill
"It just got to be such a foul piece of work that the American people couldn't tolerate these kinds of things," King told CNSNews.com. "And by the way, to jump across the line and be in a position where we would compel American taxpayers to pay taxes against their will to fund abortions in America, that's a line across which many of us wouldn't cross."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced last week (Jan. 21) that there were not enough votes to pass the Senate-version of the bill in the House of Representatives.
At the annual March for Life last Friday (Jan. 22), CNSNews.com asked King: "The Senate health care bill allowed tax money to go to health-care plans which cover abortion. (D)o you think that the abortion language is a factor in the bill's demise?"
"(I)t clearly was a factor," King replied. "(T)he Stupak language laid out a parameter. And when it went from the House over to the Senate, they had to deal with the Stupak amendment. And when (Nebraska Democratic Sen.) Ben Nelson had offered the Stupak language as an amendment, and it was defeated by a vote of 45 to 54, then they had to find a way to get Ben Nelson's vote, and in the middle of the night they contrived some language that was rejected by the pro-life community almost instantaneously, and I (was) among them. That scrambled the situation."
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King was referring to an amendment offered by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) to the House version of the bill, which passed in the House in November, explicitly barred federal funds from paying for any part of a health-insurance plan that covers abortion, except in the cases of rape, incest, or risk to the mother's life.
Language that mirrored the Stupak amendment, sponsored by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) was rejected in the Senate. The Legislation that passed there, and which was expected to go into conference committee with the House, mandated that at least one of the health plans provided through the government-regulated insurance exchanges for people getting coverage with subsidies had to provide coverage of elective abortion.
King also credited what he called the "Cornhusker kick-back" -- a deal reached by Nebraska's Nelson and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to give Nebraska a special dispensation for full Medicare payments, in exchange for Nelson's vote in favor of the bill.
Added to that was an agreement Reid reached with Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), dubbed the "Louisiana Purchase" -- for $300 million in extra Medicare funding for Louisiana -- as well as the exemption of Medicare Advantage for Florida obtained by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and the $10 billion that was earmarked to go to Maine for community health clinics.
King told a story to illustrate the depth of support that pro-lifers feel for their cause.
"(I)n fact, I take you back to early in the '80s, my congressman at that time was Fred Grandy, who came to my hometown, did a town hall meeting. He presented a health-care proposal that he had put together, and there were about 80 people in the room. He asked how many of us were employers. There were 12 of us. How many of us provided health insurance for our employees? I was the only one. And then he leaned down and he asked me: 'How much will this change the way you do business, if this policy I'm proposing becomes law?' And my answer to him was, 'Probably not very much unless you're going to compel me to fund abortion. If that's the case, I quite likely will no longer be an employer.' And the church erupted in applause," King said.
"That's the first time I knew that I was in a pro-life community," King said. "I hadn't thought about (what) my neighbors thought. I just said what I thought. That's what the American people think today. We're not going to compel Americans to fund abortions with their tax dollars. We're going to keep marching, working, and praying, that we can put an end to elective abortion in America."
King said forcing Americans to fund abortions would be "inhuman," "cruel," and an "immoral extortion of tax dollars."
"I think it's immoral to compel people – taxpayers -- to fund an act that is abhorrent to their moral standards," King said. "And I would not ask someone to do that. I wouldn't compel someone to do that. That is cruel and inhuman to put a taxpayer through that. In fact, it's an immoral extortion of tax dollars."
Click here for the video.
The Senate bill, meanwhile, did contain a provision that created a theoretical firewall to keep states from covering abortions. However, critics like King pointed out that taxpayer subsidies not used to cover abortions in one state could be used to pay for abortions in another state.
The opt-out is "a sham because it does nothing to prevent one state's tax dollars from paying for elective abortions in other states," said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a Dec. 21 statement. "Health reform should be an opportunity to protect human life – not end it."
On Jan. 21, Pelosi announced that House Democrats did not have enough votes to pass the Senate version of health care reform.
"I don't see the votes for it at this time," said Pelosi at a Capitol Hill press conference. "The members have been very clear."
The March for Life is an annual pro-life rally held in Washington, D.C., since 1974 to remember and protest the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which legalized abortion on demand across the United States.
Contact: Karen Schuberg
Source: CNSNews.com
Publish Date: January 27, 2010
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