Posted on 11/20/2009 11:28:51 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o
The White House is on a collision course with Catholic bishops in an intractable dispute over abortion that could blow up the fragile political coalition behind President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
...an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Sen. Harry Reid's bill is the worst he's seen so far on the divisive issue.
[snip]
So far, Reid has steered the Senate bill in a direction that abortion rights supporters can live with: allowing coverage for abortion in federally subsidized health care plans, provided that beneficiaries' own premiums are used to pay for the procedure. But abortion opponents say his compromise would gut current federal restrictions on abortion funding.
Despite criticism, there were growing indications Reid would prevail on ...a 60-vote majority to advance the bill toward full debate, expected to begin after Thanksgiving and last for weeks. It's during that debate that the battle over abortion will be joined in earnest. Reid will need to clear other 60-vote hurdles before senators cast their final vote on the bill.
[snip]
But Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the bishops' conference Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, said Reid's "is actually the worst bill we've seen so far on the life issues."
He called it "completely unacceptable," adding that "to say this reflects current law is ridiculous."
[snip]
"All the money the government has starts out being private money," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life. "Once the government has them, they're federal funds."
(Excerpt) Read more at inforum.com ...
Question for wise FReepers: the article also says "Reid will need to clear other 60-vote hurdles before senators cast their final vote on the bill."
I know that after the "cloture" that OK s debate and amendments, there's another 60-vote cloture vote "at the other end" to close debate. Is that the only one? Or are there still others?
Could some parliamentarian please lay this out so we will unerstand where our future 60-vote opportunities are?
This is the most ridiculous malarkey, money is fungible. A patient cannot direct his personal premium dollars to go toward specific procedures, not others, who is going to buy this?? Of COURSE death-supporters can live with it, it means federal funding of the killing of the unborn, no two ways about it.
Good grief, how stupid are these people?
Enough to have an Abtn tax within the Senate bill for us all to pay and share in the blood of the unborn.
Our church has taken steps to protect the property and people there as of this week. I think we need to be vigilant because the Church could easily become the bete noir of the anti-life progressives and that could lead to violence.
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