Why Health Care Reform Will Implode

From Congress Daily - subscription required. There are still a number of dirty little secrets stalking the back alley's of Congress ready to derail health care reform. And chief among them is abortion. Surprise, surprise, it's moderate and conservative Democrats, especially many who won seats in the last election, preparing to cause trouble, no matter how much Pelosi wants to not discuss the issue right now.

The topic is one way to get leadership aides to deviate from sunny pronouncements declaring smooth healthcare sailing and point instead to a litany of unresolved issues -- medical devices, revenue measures, regional disparities and hospitals were all on one leadership aide's list.

The stumbling block is especially huge given the dynamics of many of our largest cities. Catholic hospitals carry the bulk of the load for health care in those areas. They've already dug in their heels on this a long time ago, claiming they would close facilities before allowing them to perform abortions. Given that lower income urban populations look to be a big beneficiary of health care reform, just imagine the fiasco if they faced having nowhere to go to get it. Obama may, or may not get rid of all the nukes in the world, but this one is set to go off right in his face. So far, no one can say the issue is close to being resolved. Kaboom!

House Speaker Pelosi Friday dismissed questions about abortion, saying that how to "procedurally" handle floor debate on health care has not yet been decided. Still, leadership aides acknowledge Democrats need to make some changes to the bill's abortion language before the bill comes to the floor.

"This is not a done deal; I do think there is an impressive effort to find a compromise," a Democratic leadership aide said. "I don't know if we are ever going to be where Stupak is, but we'll be in a place that will satisfy a majority of those folks that he considers with him right now."

If they don't, Stupak will carry through on his threat -- and "I guess they run the risk" of losing, Stupak said.

If leaders can't agree on changes to the abortion language, they will have to court anti-abortion rights members one by one, hoping to peel enough away to strip the group of its power to hold up the bill. The question is whether other changes will resolve the concerns of members who might not be willing to derail all of health reform because of abortion.

One example is Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-Pa., a freshman in a swing district facing a possibly tight re-election contest without President Obama on the ballot. With the election likely becoming a referendum on the president's domestic programs, she has yet to announce whether she will support the healthcare package -- even though Pelosi spent an hour at a briefing touting Dahlkemper's efforts to allow children to stay on their parents' insurance policies until they turn 27.

Moderate and conservative Dems are already feeling exposed due to all the concessions they've made on a number of policies. This could easily be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Democrats don't want to talk about abortion rights, but it could sink health reform.

"Most people would have preferred not to have to talk about abortion at all in health reform," said a Democratic aide who worked on the Energy and Commerce Committee's abortion negotiations. With Republicans likely to try to use the emotional issue to draw support and money for 2010 contests, Democrats tried to make the bill "abortion neutral" -- maintaining existing federal policy without further restricting abortion rights.

But anti-abortion rights Democrats are forcing the conversation, and leaders have to answer because there are enough of them to disrupt the overhaul effort. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., says he has gathered a group of about 40 lawmakers who are willing to vote to prevent House leaders from bringing the health overhaul to the floor unless they allow a vote on an amendment to explicitly outlaw federal funding for abortion.

Comments

[Lala]

I wish the RC Church would start excommunicating these fake Catholics.

Kennedy's bishop, Most Rev. Thomas Tobin was quick to respond, and WOW. Here's the text of Tobin's statement, via The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence...

Congressman Patrick Kennedy's statement about the Catholic Church's position on health care reform is irresponsible and ignorant of the facts. But the Congressman is correct in stating that "he can't understand." He got that part right.

http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2009/10/smackdown_bisho.html

[MDr]

Just be thankful for any gifts, small or large, you receive. If not for the abortion issue, the Catholic Church would have been among ObamCare's greatest cheerleaders. Ok, they would have bitched, but not campaigned against the fact that "everyone" will not be covered.

The Dims, IMHO, are by far the better "politicians", but they're not perfect (thank goodness). The Hyde Amendment has long allowed Dims a reasonable out, on abortion. This time, it seems they've aimed for "a bridge too far".

To stop this HC Obamination, I'll accept any help I can get.

[Joe E.]

Well Ted Kennedy's old pal Father Creedon seems to think just like the Kennedy clan:

http://lesfemmes-thetruth.blogspot.com/2009/09/fr-gerry-creedon-trivializes-murder-of.html

Someome needs to expose this preist.

[Bob]

Hey, if it's not "death panels," then abortion rights will do just fine, as long as it serves as another bad-faith excuse for the GOP to deny Americans affordable healthcare. Scores of health industry executives around the country are counting on them to bolster their perks, no matter how many tens of thousands of Americans have to die in the process. After all, it's not like they give out rides on the corporate jet for being fair or honorable. Republican lawmakers respect that kind of ruthless cynicism, and strive to emulate it at every opportunity.

[Philip McDaniel]

After reading your various screeds here and there Bob, I've come to the conclusion that somewhere there's a village missing its idiot.

[Mary Ann Kreitzer]

One of the reasons we have these liberal Catholic politicians is because of the failure of the bishops to act like bishops. It's time to cut off their money. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) collection is November 21/22. Please boycott the collection. The Catholic Media Coalition posted a boycott video on YouTube. Pass it on to all your Catholic friends. As long as Catholics in the pew enable the bishops' liberal bureaucracy we will not see a change. Boycott the CCHD and then we can start working on the elimination of the USCCB.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrTEoXs7Ts4