Posted on 11/19/2009 1:49:09 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o
Speaker Nancy Pelosi prefers abortion language in the Senate healthcare legislation to the approach her chamber took with its bill.
"I'm pleased with the language in the Senate bill," Pelosi (D-Calif.) said of the bill her counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), rolled out Wednesday. "I think it's pretty clear no federal funds would be used to pay for abortion."
Reid left out the language drafted by abortion-rights opponent Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich...
[snip]
Abortion-rights supporters, including Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), have praised Reids approach. But anti-abortion groups have lambasted it, calling it "completely unacceptable."
"Reid seeks to cover elective abortions in two big new federal health programs, but tries to conceal that unpopular reality with layers of contrived definitions and hollow bookkeeping requirements," said Doug Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.
Pelosi appears to find the Stupak amendment unacceptable.
[snip]
But 41 abortion-rights Democrats in the House have promised to vote against the conference report if it includes the Stupak language. If Republicans unite against it, those 41 could also sink the bill.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
A mere handful of wobbling Democratic Senators must be persuaded to stop, block, filibuster, the Health Care Reform. The following are considered key Senators: people who will go either way.
Reid has NO margin for error: he has to get ALL 60 Dems in order to put the bill on the floor.
Here's the key concept: Urge these Senators to Vote No on any "procedural vote" to "move to the health bill."
This will happen Friday or Saturday!
We don't want the bill even to make it to the floor!
Heres info you can use if you need local constituent city and zip codes to get past their email message filters.
Ben Nelson (D NE)
Strong abortion opponent
Against Big Government, the "public option"
Fiscal conservative
Quote: "Faced with a decision about whether or not to move a bill that is bad, I won't vote to move it," he told ABC News. "For sure."
Use: City Omaha, Zip Code 68108 (plus any 4 digits), Area Code (402)
Blanche Lincoln (D Ark)
Member of the Senate Finance Committee
Voted twice against making the "public option" part of the bill
Facing tough re-election, eager to display her conservative credentials in a state that was handily carried by Sen. John McCain
probably won't even agree to let the bill be debated on the Senate floor.
Use: City Little Rock, Zip Code 72291 (plus any 4 digits), Area Code (501)
Joe Lieberman (I CT)
Independent but caucuses with the Democrats
has threatened to filibuster against public option. ..Quote: I would use the power I have as a single senator to stop a final vote," he said in a recent televised interview.
Use City Hartford, Zip Code 06160 (plus any 4 digits), Area Code (860)
Sen. Susan Collins (R Maine)
Could go either way
One of just three Republican lawmakers to cross party lines and vote for the Recovery Act (a.k.a. Federal Stimulus Package)
voted in favor of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2)
but although pro-reform, she is on record as being against (quote) "billions of dollars in new taxes and fees that will drive up the cost of health insurance premiums." The whole bill should be re-written, Collins said, according to the New York Times.
Use City Augusta, Zip Code 04330 (plus any 4 digits), Area Code (207)
Robert Casey (D PA)
On record as an opponent of abortion, from a very pro-life district
Use City Erie, Zip Code 16501 (plus any 4 digits), Area Code (814)
Evan Bayh (D IN)
Concerned about tax on medical-device makers in the current legislation
Indiana is the third-biggest state for jobs in the medical device sector, with currently some 63,000 Indiana residents working in that field
.Quote: "I want to know what works for families and small businesses."
Bayh says medical devices fee would "seriously threaten thousands of American jobs and deter innovation in the industry."
Use city Indianapolis, Zip Code 46201 (plus any 4 digits), Area Code (317)
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D LA)
Often on the fence about issues
Mixed voting record on Abortion, rated 43% by NARAL (pro-abortion) and 50% by NRLC (pro-life)
Favors letting some states try "trigger" mechanisms that would create a public option if residents don't have enough insurance choices (needs to be vehemently argued out of this fallback position)
Quote
"I'm not for a government-run, national, taxpayer-subsidized plan, and never will be."
Use city New Orleans, Zip Code 70141 (plus any 4 digits), Area Code (504)
Roland Burris (D IL)
A bit quirky and cantankerous, Burris' willingness to bend could prove crucial if Reid needs every possible vote in crafting a compromise, such as a national public option that is triggered if certain insurance availability targets aren't met. Or might favor a public option offered by states, not feds. Or might be pushed to favor no on the bill altogether. Push him to say NO, JUST NO! At age 72, Burris has virtually nothing to lose by defying his party's leaders and voting as he pleases.
Use city Kankakee, Zip Code 60901 (plus any 4 digits), Area Code (815)
Here's how I do it. These are not phone calls, these are Constituent Message System e-mails. When you click on the link, fill out all the info with your real name and street address, but give the "local" city, state, and zip.
If they do not require a phone number, don't give a phone number. The "local" info just gets you through any possible local-constituent filter.
If you prefer to do the whole thing with your true address info, that's OK too. But sometimes when they have heavy traffic, they may filter for "local" and dump out-of-state messages. So this protects you from being dumped.
Reid is replace the House "Stupak Amendment" with a "Senate substitute" which will fund elective abortions. He is also in hot water about the "public option," with some Dem Senators saying they won't vote for the bill WITH public option, and some (on the Left) saying they won't vote for the bill WITHOUT it.
This is our chance to stop it dead.
Take count folks, those that vote for government, paid, abortions are NOT worthy to return to washington, and that includes our (ahem)president
What is needed then - if these tyrants pass a law requiring us to fund abortions - we should demand that those *patients* undergo post-operative sterilization so as not to be *punished* by future pregnancies.
Additionally, the *patients* must be required to identify the *sperm donors* so that corrective vasectomies can also be performed by medical enforcers.
Works for me!
I don’t like taxes going for abortions, but today it is a legal medical procedure and I don’t want the gov deciding what procedures it will and will not pay for. We need to approach this nationalized health issue as an all or nothing proposition. There are plenty of other avenues to take to defeat this thing and harping so much on abortion it taking the attention off the rest of the monster.
Retroactive, of course...
I just checked my Merriam-Webster. “Devout” is not a synonym for “Fraudulent.”
I, like you, am opposed to this whole damn health reform scam: lock, stock, and suction machine.
However, there is no harm, no inconsistency, and indeed a great deal of good in different constituencies focusing their opposition on different aspects of this comprehensively offensive bill. If abortion riles you, focus on that. If "public option" drives you over the edge, concentrate your message on that.
If I communicated about every aspect of this lunatic legislation that I found unacceptable, it would come to --- what was that? About 2,015 pages?
Abortion is a simple up-and-down moral question, because abortion is not healthcare. It is the deliberate killing of one patient at the request of another.
If the bill specified that DonaldC could be beheaded and dismembered at will, I don't think you would caution me against focusing on that on the grounds that it was just quibbling about one procedure.
...... and she isn’t a Catholic .
She is neither “Catholic” nor devout, just like the American people.
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