DriveThru – Get What You Need

So says Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services Secretary. And the fact that the last-minute, so-called “pro-life” amendment (that supposedly eased Ben Nelson’s qualms about public funding of abortion) was negotiated by Senators Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray would have sent shivers of fear through any ordinary pro-lifer. Somehow Ben missed all of that.

But Ed Morrissey at Hot Air asks a question that even a fifth-grader would correctly answer every time: “If the government forces us to pay into a fund, and then controls the distribution of those funds, are those funds not ‘public’?”

Too bad it wasn’t a fifth-grader who Reid needed at 1 a.m Monday for his 60th vote.

While Saturday night’s 60-39 vote to move the health care bill forward was disappointing, all is not lost. 

Americans have all this week, while their senators are home for the Thanksgiving break, to contact local offices and urge their senators to vote NO on the 60-vote hurdle coming up after the holiday.  Did we mention the bill still includes federal funding of elective abortion? Yes, it does.  And we now know that the “reform” will cost far more than the $849 billion that the Dems are touting.  

So eat a lot of turkey this Thanksgiving, and while you’re at it, make a quick phone call to your senators’ local offices and say “vote NO” on the next health care vote coming up.  Just go here, type in your zip code, and then click on your senators’ names to find the contact information for their state offices.  Quick and easy.

Remember when President Obama said that under his health care plan (the Democrat plan), no federal dollars will be used to pay for abortion? 

And remember how Democrats repeatedly told constituents concerned about abortion funding in health care that the Hyde Amendment  “will not change,” – leading many constituents to believe that the Hyde Amendment would keep federal dollars from going toward abortion or plans that cover abortion? 

The message the Democrats have been sending to the public is don’t worry, we took care of it.  No federal funding of abortion.  No problem.

Well, last Saturday, 64 Democrats and 176 Republicans took the extra step to make sure that the government health care plan didn’t fund abortion.  They passed the Stupak/Pitts amendment which guaranteed that no federal dollars would pay for abortion or any health care plan that covers abortion.

And out of nowhere, Democrats are mad, mad, madder than my mom was when one time I threw a rock at her car because I didn’t want to leave a friend’s house.

Why would they care? Didn’t the Democrats’ health care bill already exclude abortion funding? Didn’t the President promise that no federal dollars would be used to pay for abortion? (Yes).  So why all the complaining over an amendment that simply codified what Democrats were saying was already in place?  

Because, as we’ve known all along, they prevaricated.

Here’s a quick recap from Saturday’s vote on health care reform.

The House of Representatives passed its version of government health care “reform” 220-215.  39 Democrats and 176 Republicans voted against the bill.  219 Democrats joined 1 Republican, Joseph Cao (Louisiana), to pass the bill. 

The Stupak/Pitts amendment that would prohibit federal funds from being used to pay for abortion or to cover any part of the costs of a health plan that includes abortion coverage, also passed, 240-194.  64 Democrats and 176 Republicans voted in favor.  One lone Republican, John Shadegg, voted “present.”  This vote is a win for pro-lifers — in a Democrat-controlled Congress.  Are those pigs flying?

And yes, it’s possible that the Stupak amendment could be stripped out in conference committee when the two chambers work out the differences in their versions.  But health care  “reform” has to clear the Senate first.

Moving forward, we await the unveiling of Senate Democrats’ version of health care.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) says  he’ll release it after the Congressional Budget Office finishes tallying the cost of the plan, and that his version will “look markedly different” from the House bill.  Interestingly, Senator Joe Lieberman is promising to keep the bill from coming to the floor if it contains a public option plan.

I’ve mentioned it before but it bears repeating:  the only thing Americans oppose more than government health care is government health care that funds abortion.  Perhaps the Senate will listen.

Fact:  71 percent of Americans don’t want their tax dollars being used to pay for abortions under the government health care proposal.

Fact:  150,000 Americans signed a Focus Action petition to their lawmakers asking them to keep government funding of abortion out of the health care bills.

Fact:  The current health care bills still include government funding of abortion.

Fact:  Congress needs a wake-up call.

So what did Focus on the Family Action do about all this? We took those 150,000 petitions straight to Capitol Hill.  And the media showed up.  And so did 10 U.S. representatives and senators.  And collectively, we called on Congress to listen to the voices of tens of millions of Americans across this country who do not want their tax dollars being used to pay for abortions in any government health care plan.

On hand to speak on behalf of Focus on the Family Action was Tom Minnery, Senior Vice President of Government and Public Policy, and he was joined by almost a dozen lawmakers, like Senators Sam Brownback and Jim DeMint, and Representatives Eric Cantor, Mike Pence, Mary Fallin, and Lincoln Davis.

And every single petition was hand-delivered to the appropriate lawmaker.  I know that–because I was part of the team who delivered them.  What a great experience.

You can watch the entire news conference here or just watch our Focus Action Update video summary of the conference.  If video’s not your thing, you can simply read our wrap-up of the press conference and petition delivery

We’ll be watching what our lawmakers do as a health care bill (yet to be determined) heads to both chambers of Congress for a vote.  We hope and expect that there will be some maneuvering by pro-life lawmakers in the House and the Senate to offer language that would exclude abortion funding from the bill, since all other attempts in committee were voted down by the pro-abortion Democrat majority.

And late last week, Democrat Alan Mollohan was joined by 29 other House Democrats in sending a letter to Speaker Pelosi asking her to adopt language similar to the Hyde Amendment that would prevent federal funds from being used for abortion.  This letter is the third group letter signed by pro-life Democrats concerned about abortion in health care reform.  Will Democrat leadership in the House listen this time?

So I vacation in Mexico for a week or so, and I come back to find that Congress still hasn’t passed a health care reform bill.  I was shocked, I tell you.

Shocked.

(I kid).

Have you ever seen someone respond to criticism by plugging their ears and yelling, “La la la la la la la! — I can’t hear you!”?

Look no further than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Capitol Hill.

Which means when election time rolls around, you’re free to do the same to them when they come knocking for your vote.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee (EnCom) was ground zero last night for the battle to keep abortion funding out of any government healthcare plan and to protect the conscience rights of medical professionals who don’t want to perform abortions.  Here’s a press release summary from the ranking member of EnCom, Rep. Joe Barton.

Or you can just read this: 

• VICTORY: Reps. Bart Stupak and Joe Pitts successfully offered an amendment to protect the conscience rights of pro-life health care entities. Thank you to those who called your lawmakers on this issue!  We’ll watch closely to see if the House and Senate versions keep this conscience protection provision in their final version of the bill.

• PHONY PRO-LIFE AMENDMENT: Our pro-abortion friend Rep. Lois Capps (D-California) offered a phony “compromise” amendment that passed 30-28.  The amendment requires taxpayer subsidies to flow to plans that include abortion, but creates an accounting scheme designed to give the impression that public funds will not subsidize abortion.

• REP. BART GORDON, a.k.a. “The Flip-Flopper”: The truly pro-life amendment to prevent mandated abortion coverage in the essential benefits package was offered by Reps. Pitts and Stupak, and initially passed by a vote of 31-27.  Great news! But then infamous committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) used a procedural maneuver to call for a re-vote later in the evening.  The amendment then failed 29-30 on the re-vote, thanks to Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee’s 6th district  who switched his vote from yea to nay.  And by “thanks” I mean–no thanks.

EnCom is still going strong (watch here if you’re willing)  and we’re waiting for at least one more amendment from Reps. Stupak and Pitts that will attempt to exclude abortion funding from the House healthcare bill.

If you haven’t already called your lawmaker on the abortion/healthcare issue, you can find your representative and senators here.  And Focus on the Family has some helpful information for you on our healthcare page.