Stupak, House Negotiating On Abortion
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said Thursday afternoon that he’s negotiating with Democratic leaders to get a comprehensive health bill that doesn’t include any federal funding for abortion.
Stupak, who authored the anti-abortion language in the House health care bill, had come from what he described as “a great meeting” with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the energy and commerce committee.
“We will continue to meet. I hope we can work it out,” he said at a news conference. “Once we see the language, maybe we can work it out with the language.”
He said there are “at least 12” House Democrats who voted for last year’s bill that will turn against the next iteration if it includes the Senate language on abortion.
Stupak also fired back at Speaker Nancy Pelosi, disputing her claims at a news conference three hours earlier that the Senate health bill won’t allow federal funding for abortion.
“She’s incorrect,” he said. “I’d ask the speaker to direct her attention to page 2069 through page 2078. There are two ways in those pages where you pay for abortion. Number one, you get tax breaks that subsidize your insurance policy that will pay for abortion. Number two, when you read the legislation, one dollar per month for all enrollees, must go into this fund for ‘reproductive care,’ which includes abortion coverage.”
Stupak rejected the notion that he’s holding up the legislation.
“Who injected abortion into health care? It wasn’t Bart Stupak. It was the (Rep. Lois) Capps (D-Calif.) amendment in the committee,” he said. “My amendment was in response to Capps. And in committee, we actually won the vote until they asked for a revote. And then we lost by one vote. So we’re dealt this hand, and we’ve said we’ll maintain current law: no public funding for abortion.”
Continuing a day that included an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America,” he stressed that he’s willing to bring down the final bill if he doesn’t get his way.
“We will not compromise that principle or belief,” he said. “We’re just asking for the current law.”
When another reported asked if he felt bad about denying President Barack Obama a key legislative victory, Stupak said the president promised on Sept. 9 that there will be no federal funding for abortion.
“I’m helping out the president,” he said. “We’re holding him to his word.”
Stupak was at a press conference to call for the repeal of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the crowd of reporters that gathered wanted to ask about abortion.
The Michigan moderate initially said he wouldn’t answer questions about health care, but then he fielded several. He was standing with Reps. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.). Taylor said that they were okay with reporter questions on health care because they both voted for Stupak’s amendment and against the final bill.
“Why do you think we invited this rock star? Do you think you’d come to see us?” Taylor said.
“Some people refer to (me) as Rockette,” Stupak said, to laughter.
Stupak told the crowd that he doesn’t care about process, only the outcome, in making sure no provisions in the final legislation can be construed to allow abortion.
“It doesn’t have to be the ‘Stupak amendment,’” he said. “Heck, we can make it the (Gene) ‘Taylor amendment.’ I don’t care. I have no pride of authorship.”
Taylor moved toward the microphone.
“No, because I’m not going to vote for the bill,” the Democrat said.
Sources: Politico, MSNBC, Youtube
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