There’s mutiny afoot in the House. It seems the Pro-Choice Caucus has awakened to the fact that Speaker Pelosi is selling us out yet again.
[...] Leaders of the Pro-Choice Caucus, some 30 minutes after storming into Pelosi’s office…
“This concurrent resolution which Congressman Stupak and several others have filed, from the position of the people who signed my letter back in November, is a non-starter,” said Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), a Pro-Choice Caucus co-chairwoman. “We compromised to the concept ‘no federal funding for abortion,’ which is current law — we don’t like that. And so if Mr. Stupak and a few members, along with the Republicans, decide to use this to take healthcare down, then that loss on healthcare coverage is going to be on their hands.”
DeGette said a move allowing the enrollment resolution to go forward would put “somewhere between 40 and 55” pro-abortion rights votes at stake. …
Jane Hamsher has obtained what is reportedly a copy of the “enrollment resolution.”
CNN reporting also that members of the Pro-Choice Caucus, after exiting Pelosi’s office, were “visibly angry about the prospect” about Stupak language being reinserted.
Kaptur’s resolution contains the same abortion language that Stupak successfully attached at the 11th hour to the House healthcare bill in November. Were the resolution to pass the House, it would instruct the Senate clerk to change the healthcare bill to reflect Stupak’s more restrictive language to prohibit federal dollars from going toward abortion coverage.
Speaker Pelosi and Rep. Stupak obviously do not believe the Pro-Choice Caucus will let Stupak’s legislative tantrum take down health care; that they’ll cave to his whims, as well as the Speaker’s.
This latest effort for Stupak to get his way is clear indication that he was willing to kill the health care bill all along.
Speaker Pelosi’s clumsy handling of Stupak and the Pro-Choice Caucus is at the center of this latest confrontation; the latter actually representing the majority of the Democratic Party, as well as its platform, while the former gets the grease.
There was never a reason to make abortion such a focal point in the health care debate.
Contrary to the initial rave reviews of Speaker Pelosi (though not around here), she’s the one that blew it and allowed Rep. Stupak to take center stage, to which he’s grown quite accustomed. Pelosi is evidently continuing to feed it.
The Pro-Choice Caucus cannot allow Stupak’s latest legislative gambit to succeed, unless they’re willing to relinquish their political integrity completely.
its been hard for me to blog i swear the blogs are at all extremes it feels. emotions are so high- and not all in outrage against the crap going on either. im a delegate to mylocal sen district convention this morning in tx and hope to be a del to the state conv but im so very pissed im wondering whether to bother. its for state dems though- esp bill white. i tepidly backed this bill but now forget it. hell every bloc has promised to kill this bill at one point yet here we are! im not sure pro choicers will kill it. all we had to do was open schip, medicare and medicaid and get people covered a yr ago. yet here we are. im tired of this whole damned thing. literally sick of hcr. did u read hamsher’s bit on grayson? he is pushing for a pub opt vote and has 80 backers yet its stupak who pelosi is crafting a WAY AROUND RECONCILAITON to ban abortion? sun there is a march on dc of immigration reform grps. it will be huge. instead of emailing us peititons ie pp and naral maybe u know they should call an emergency march. let hell break lose here. if not now when?
key passage of what may become law:
“None of the funds appropriated by this Act… shall be expended for any abortion or to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion, except in the case where a woman suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the woman in danger of death unless an abortion is performed…. or unless the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.”
http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/03/19/the-stupak-amendment-is-back-whats-an-enrollment-corrections-bill/
mydd sums it up- not just stupak either. some want medicare reimbursment fixed etc.. armstrong notes he can now see this finally dying.
http://mydd.com/2010/3/19/stupak-may-yet-bring-down-this-bill#comments
THANKS for chiming in, t4h. I’ve missed you.
Where was the Pro-Choice caucus when Stupak inserted his language into the bill in the first place? If this language is reinserted into the HC bill, I see it going down. And I blame Nancy Pelosi for this. She should never have allowed it in the first place. This is one of those “back doors” I keep talking about when it comes to taking choice for women away. I want an equitable HC bill; the first step to doing that is preventing Stupak language in the bill.
Jane — The ONLY way Pelosi got this through was by allowing the Stupak language.
Me thinks Obama better pull his head out of the repugs and the anti-womens rights screwdogs asses and recognize his Presidency is teatering on a razors edge here. He WAS NOT elected to do the religous/superstitionists bidding!
i thought the bill would die when those 60 signed the ltr saying no deal unless a po. i thought then the hispanic caucus would killl it bc of its anti immirgrant provisions. does degette and co have the spine to stop this? i hope.
Ding Dong, the Bill is Dead !
Ding Dong, the Wicked Bill is Dead !
I’ve been reading in this forum that health reform is DEAD for at least six months now. Frankly, it’s getting a little tiresome.
Call me “Last Laugh” pmichael from now on, Taylor. Though it may take a while before I get it. *L*
This is just crap, pmichael.
Where have you read people saying “the bill is dead!”
I’ve written ad nauseam that it’s a bad bill. But dead?
Pelosi is going against the Democratic platform on abortion rights. I agree, she is to blame for allowing this to happen in the first place. When Bart high and mighty Stupak becomes the status quo of the Democratic party, well … count me out. They are actually going out of their way to make Hyde more restrictive. How this one man can be so obsessed with controlling millions of women’s reproductive choices is beyond me. NARAL and NOW should be screaming about this.
BTW, Secular …
“his Presidency is teatering on a razors edge here”
You sound like an impatient 12 year old, my friend. His ‘journey’ is only about 15% completed – and I expect him to continue learning and improving. I know some are disappointed he didn’t actually walk on water from the getgo – and I agree he has made what you and I think are mistakes –
but the fact still remains; We have moved from a moron and a clown in the Whitehouse, to a Harvard professor. I believe in him. You’re welcome to disagree (everyone) – but I think I’ll get the last laugh – assuming I live long enough. LOL
Okay, my last attempt to put a SmilE on life, then I gotta go __
Correct me if I’m wrong but it seems to me any major ‘move’ when it comes to politics requires a ‘start’. The Emancipation Proclamation was merely a ‘start’. While there was a HUGE step taken in civil rights in 1964, there was another bill in about ’57 it was built on.
This is the message I’m hearing from Obama.
Doing ‘Nothing’ is not an option.
Imperfection is acceptable.
Dennis Kucinich gets it.
Kucinich “gets it,” because he got a ride on Air Force One.
If you’re able to swallow Stupak language, calling that a “start,” you’ve lost your feminist credentials *permanently.”
This is the 21st century, not the 19th and women have come a long way, baby. We don’t need a start that will take 100 years to rectify. We need to have “choice” as part and parcel of the system.
pmichael says:
20 March 2010 at 9:28 am
I’m okay with the “start” being imperfect, although I had hoped for more. However, with this latest twist, we are taking a step “back” with Stupak for one half of our population – not to mention it goes against the Democratic party platfrom. I really think this illustrates why we need many more women in Congress. I think Michael Moore has it right. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/my-congressman-bart-stupa_b_506649.html
Good for you, linnette. Don’t let the men around here tell you that Stupak is a compromise anyone should accept.
MM’s piece is brilliant. Finally, at least one very visible male willing to stand up against Stupak on behalf of women.
“I really think this illustrates why we need many more women in Congress.”
I don’t think its a question of needing more women in congress. If we had ONE woman with conviction in congress willing to stand up for women’s rights she could have stopped this thing long ago.
Just think, what if Barbara Boxer, or Gillibrand, or Cantwell, or Feinstein, or any number of female senators had done what Joe Lieberman did with the public option, they would have stopped this bill in its tracks and forced Obama to say give her what she wants. They could have had anything they wanted.
Its not a question of numbers, its a question of courage and conviction. These women were just not willing to stand up for what they ostensibly believed in.
Again, is there anything a Progressive Democrat believes in strongly enough that she will not compromise on? The answer is absolutely nothing.
Pelosi needed to get a health care passed through the House and get it over to the Senate. She did that. The Stupak language was modified in the Senate. Pelosi knew that it would be. Let’s try to keep in mind that this is a health care bill and not an abortion bill. Once this Frankenstein monster of a bill is passed by Congress and signed into law by Obama the real work will begin to improve and add to it. Keep the faith. Peace
“Once this Frankenstein monster of a bill is passed by Congress and signed into law by Obama the real work will begin to improve and add to it. Keep the faith.” Imhotep
This time, we are in total sync.
11 AM EST
Stupak announcement
Perhaps he’ll announce that after much soul searching he has decided to tranisition from being a man into being a woman? Peace
I think it might be easier to keep the faith on this if you are a man. As a woman, I don’t see where faith has anything to do with this. It’s all about control and exercising power. But that’s just my opinion. http://www.now.org/issues/health/031910stupak.html
It’s an opinion based on experience and how we’ve seen health care handled.
Also, new post up on Stupak push back, which you’ll love, Lynnette.
Abortion is the big lie that both parties use to manipulate their base. Republicans campaign on it to bring the theocrats along promising to outlaw it once and forever. This gets them grassroots workers and money galore. It is not in their interest for it to become outlawed. It also serves as a convienent vehicle to use as a so called “principled objection” that politicians hide behind to do the bidding of their real masters, big business.
Democrats use it to keep women on board and contributing to them and their poodle NFP supporting organizations ie. NARAL and Moveon. How may times did we hear we HAD to vote for Obama,what about the Supreme Court,what about abortion rights and other women’s rights issues? We now can see that women’s rights are at the top of the Party’s agenda …right?
I always blame Obama for changing the Party…that is probably not fair, his Administration and it’s moves so far have just crystalized a trend that has been going on for years.The Repugs have now become the radical right and the Dems have become the moderate right. There is no representation of the left in politics today.
I am done with them…I understand that puts me in the wilderness but no way in the world will I give five cents or a minute of my time to what they have become.
Speaking of NARAL and PPFA, also – they should never, never have allowed this to get this far. Too many young women have assumed that choice was a right that they would always have and never lose. Wrong! I know what the fight was all about; I was part of it, and I also know that there are groups out there that want to strip women of the right to choose and to even prevent women from obtaining contraceptives. Now NARAL and PPFA can send all you women letters saying that they have to fight for your right to choose – please send money. They dropped the ball on this one.
What’s interesting is that I was just on a conservative site (hotair.com — it does a great job of presenting a conservative point of view on things) and there’s much gnashing of teeth that Stupak is selling out. So — both sides seem VERY unhappy, which is curious.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — I am pro-choice, but I completely understand why not using federal funds to pay for abortion is a priority for pro-lifers. I don’t have a solution for it, mind you, but I do understand why pro-lifers are enraged at the prospect. At the same time, I understand, completely, why women want health care coverage for all the range of procedures they might need.
I also think this bill is an unmitigated disaster with a huge, huge potential for a huge, huge range of unintended consequences. It will bust the budget, it will make care worse and it will insert the IRS (we’ll need about 17,000 new employees for “compliance!) into areas the IRS should not be. Hope it goes down, but I’m not hopeful I’m right. Too many last-minute sleazy deals being made. Obama is a disgrace. I did my part — I wrote in Hillary!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — I am pro-choice, but I completely understand why not using federal funds to pay for abortion is a priority for pro-lifers.
There is NO funding for abortion in the current (bad) bill.
However, let’s try to remember that it’s LEGAL to get an abortion, within responsible parameters.
pmichael, Obama has never been a harvard professor. he’s never even been a professor anywhere. He was a part time lecturer at the Univesity of Chicago and if anyone thinks that this bill is going to be fixed is completely clueless. this a piece of garbage that restricts the rights of women and to think that they are going to undo anythign in this bill…well, you simply have not been paying attention.
Can someone, maybe you Ga6thDem, explain to me how the bill in theory could be fixed?
I have heard over and over, that if the House passes this bill, it goes immediately to the President for signature and becomes law. If that is correct, then who cares about what the Senate would do?
I am confused about that aspect.
Here’s where we are now:
http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1744-Setting-the-Rules
The end game, which is in the Senate:
http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1740-Health-Care-Bill-Summary-Follow-the-Endgame
I just don’t understand this “I believe in him” statement. I cried tears of joy when he was elected, but now I don’t believe a single word he says. He’s sold out to Wall Street, continues the unnecessary wars, has kept all the Bush assaults on personal liberties intact, on and on and on. The Dems and Repubs are both like factions in a single gang.
“Believing in him” only makes sense if you’re in on the take.
The Dems and Repubs are both like factions in a single gang.
It’s sad.
It’s also the never ending gullibility of some people to WANT to believe in someone, whether the person they’re putting their trust deserves it or has earned it.
Beth~ the IRS angle really bothers me too,seems tyrannical to me. As far as the people who have a moral objection to the idea that somehow tax money might get past all the roadblocks worked out by the Senate and find it’s way to abortion services…..I have a moral objection to any of my tax money going to support premptive wars or to the forest service to clear cut old growth forests…I could go on. You get my drift. They are free to practice their morals in their own lives but they want their morals to be made law for all of us and they go on and on about liberty and freedom. Some of them want the enlightenment erased from history books…please there is no end to what they want to reshape this country into a theocracy and they continue to get their way as long as they are willing to overlook the fact that we also are becoming an Oligarchy.
LL -
As an owner of rental properties I have an objection to my rental income being invaded by Medicare taxes under this bill, a bill that only deals with 31 million folks and does nothing to control costs.
I also have an objection to an increase in the payroll tax.
Yet you support the bill. Are you making the point that everybody has objections? That is true I am sure, my problem is that some objections get the attention of everyone and it always seems to be a religious objection.
kris, how do you propose to pay for an expanded health care system—say universal health care? Increased income taxes? A payroll tax? A tax on interest income? Dividend income? Rental income? A national sales tax? A value added tax? A combination of all of these? Or some other vehicle to raise money? Keep in mind that only the Federal Reserve Bank can print money out of thin air. Peace
Hey Imhotep -
A start – end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
That’s kind of my point LL. I guess I see this bill as a starting point…it’s not the end. It’s so limited in what it does that you almost have to view it that way.
And I make the financial point to say that if this small in scope bill is going to cost this much, imagine if I got what I wanted…single payer. I still want single payer as the end game and maybe it will happen someday. The cost will be enormous, but if that’s my utlimate goal I have to be willing to pay the cost. That also includes this bill.
When this passes, and it will, we all need to be dedicated enough to keep the President and Congress moving on the real goals and that is cost containment and delivery services for everyone.
“Believing in him” only makes sense if you’re in on the take.
OR _ a little thing called patience.
Not a lot of that going around. *L