Lawmakers Feud Over Church's Role in Health Care Debate

The inclusion of a restrictive abortion clause in the House health care bill, and the Catholic Church's involvement in its passage, has legislators and others debating the extent to which religious organizations can appropriately delve into politics.

Anti-abortion rights lawmakers successfully added an amendment from Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) into the health care bill Saturday that would restrict some health insurance plans from offering coverage for abortion. The amendment came up for a vote after Democrats faced pressure from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the official leadership body for the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

[...] "The role the bishops played in the pushing the Stupak amendment, which unfairly restricts access for low-income women to insurance coverage for abortions, was more than mere advocacy," Woolsey wrote. "They seemed to dictate the finer points of the amendment, and managed to bully members of Congress to vote for added restrictions on a perfectly legal surgical procedure."

SOURCE: CBS News

Bill Clinton Urges Fast Action by Senate Democrats

Former President Bill Clinton joined Senate Democrats for their weekly luncheon on Tuesday and urged them to band together and quickly pass health care legislation.

[...] Here is what the former president had to say:

I basically said that I think it’s an economic imperative. We’re in an economic crisis, we’re trying to bring America back, and I have always been concerned that, you know, 16 percent of our people don’t have health insurance and 30 percent are without it at any given time during the year...

SOURCE: New York Times

Rasmussen on Health Care

Over the weekend, Democratic leaders spoke of an historic moment as health care reform legislation passed the House of Representatives. But that legislative victory failed to significantly move public opinion.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% now favor the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. Most (52%) remain opposed.

Only 25% Strongly Support the plan while 42% are Strongly Opposed.

SOURCE: Rasmussen

Anti-abortion amendment put health reform in a bind

WASHINGTON — Health care reform's fragile chances took a turn for the worse Monday as pro-abortion-rights lawmakers led by Rep. Diana DeGette vowed to kill the bill if an anti-abortion amendment isn't stripped from the final version.

The drama played out for most of the day on cable television as pro- abortion-rights Democrats who were outmaneuvered over the weekend suddenly went on the offensive.

DeGette, D-Colo., vowed to send a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week with at least 40 signatures of lawmakers promising to vote against the bill — enough to kill the bill once it emerges from conference — if the language restricting federally subsidized insurance policies from covering abortion remained intact.

But anti-abortion Democrats showed Saturday that they can muster at least the same number of votes, as 64 Democrats, including Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, voted in favor of the amendment. And reformers now face the prospect that one of the most emotional policy issues of the last quarter-century could kill the biggest domestic initiative of Barack Obama's presidency.

SOURCE: Denver Post

Betting Against Obama Health Care Increases as Time Grows Short

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Insurers such as WellPoint Inc. and Blue Cross Blue Shield and drugmakers are redoubling their efforts to fight proposals to overhaul the U.S health-care system, adding another obstacle as legislative hurdles mount.

The insurers oppose competition from a new government-run program that’s included in both the House and Senate plans. The trade group representing drugmakers such as Pfizer Inc. says a House provision to allow the government to negotiate drug prices for Medicare would cost tens of thousands of jobs.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won passage of her version of the legislation on Nov. 7 only after forcing her party’s liberal wing to make concessions and can’t count on those votes for a final version. In the Senate, time is running out to get a bill passed this year, leaving the effort vulnerable to a loss of momentum and a new backlash from Republicans in 2010.

[...] “Because of the degree of difficulty, it wouldn’t surprise me to see it roll over into the first quarter of 2010,” said William Frenzel, a Brookings Institution scholar in Washington who was a Republican member of Congress for 20 years.

SOURCE: Bloomberg