No surprise here, the White House is pressuring Rep. Bart Stupak to keep quiet on the abortion “compromise” language in the Senate Health Care Bill. They want him to wait until they can “sell him the language”. I wonder does that mean, wait until Nancy Pelosi can play Lets Make A Deal?
Whatever it means, I am not betting the farm on Stupak standing on principle and I am certainly not betting the farm on Nancy not completely caving on the abortion issue. What the Democrats are after is the control. Once they have it, they can fix all the other problems later. This is why Harry Reid made special protections for the “Death Panel”. That part of the reform package is what is truly important to the Democrats. Reducing the deficit, insuring the uninsured, etc is all secondary if not tertiary.
At any rate here is Bart Stupak speaking to CNSNews:
CNSNews.com: "Now, I understand that you were in contact with the White House or the White [House] was in contact with you, I guess over the weekend. What kinds of pressure are you under, let me ask you that?"
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.): "Well, from the House leadership or the White House – a lot of pressure. They think I shouldn’t be expressing my views on this bill until they get a chance to try to sell me the language. Well, I don’t need anyone to sell me the language. I can read it. I’ve seen it. I’ve worked with it. I know what it says. I don’t need to have a conference with the White House. I have the legislation in front of me here."
Rep. Stupak: "They asked me just to hold off for a while and not to say anything about this language. But as soon as the news broke that they had this [compromise], and they got the 60 votes, folks were asking me, and I’m not going to run from the issue I’m going to stand up and say, ‘Look, here’s my objections.' Here – it’s not just my objections – but there’s a number of my [colleagues] who feel strongly about this issue, and these are the parts that have to be fixed. There are three ways in which the bill dramatically deviates from current law."
Rep. Stupak: “So we’re getting a lot of pressure not to say anything, to try to compromise this principle or belief, and we’re just not – that’s just not us, I mean, we’re not going to do that. Members who voted for the Stupak language in the House – especially the Democrats, 64 Democrats that voted for it – feel very strongly about it. It’s been part of who we are, part of our make up. It’s the principle belief that we have. We are not just going to abandon it in the name of health care."
CNSNews.com: "So, to go back and ask you again, do you have the votes needed to stop the bill, if it comes to that?"
Rep. Stupak: "Well, if all the issues are resolved and we’re down to the pro-life view or, I should say, no public funding for abortion, there’s at least 10 to 12 members who have said repeatedly, unless this language is fixed and current law is maintained and no public funding for abortion, they're not gonna' vote for the bill. There’s 10 or 12 of us -- they only passed the bill by 3 votes, so they’re going to be short 8 to 9, maybe 6 to 8 votes. So they do not have the votes to pass it in the House.”
To listen to the interview, click here.
Via: The Drudge Report
Via: CNSNews
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2 comments:
I really pray that he and the others stick with their principles on this one. There is no reason for abortion to be included in a health care bill.
Say it ain't so. Pressure from the White House? Shocking!!!
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