The House is in the midst of a 4 hour debate ahead of a vote
sometime tonight on the health care bill. House Minority Leader
John Boehner just asked Rep. Henry Waxman if he could guarantee
that the Stupak amendment to prevent federal funds from being
used to cover abortion will survive once the bill is reconciled
with the Senate. The idea, of course, is that Democrats are using
the Stupak amendment as a means to attract the votes of pro-life
Democrats who are currently on the fence about supporting the
larger bill, even though it could (and quite possibly will) be
stripped down the road. In response to Boehner, Waxman said if
the Stupak amendment passes it will become the position of the
House heading into negotiations with the Senate, but he could
offer "no guarantees" as to whether the anti-abortion language
would make it into the final bill.
The vote on the Stupak amendment raises an interesting dilemma
for pro-life Republicans. Do they vote for the Stupak amendment
even though it will, presumably, make it easier for Nancy Pelosi
to secure passage of the health care bill? Or do they block the
amendment to help kill the bill as a whole, even if it means
losing their best opportunity to make sure tax dollars aren't
subsidizing abortions? Then again, the best means of
preventing tax money from funding abortions is to make sure the
health care bill doesn't pass in the first place. Phil Kerpen of
Americans for Prosperity is urging
Republicans to vote "present" on the Stupak amendment as part of
the greater effort to kill the bill. Of course, the risk of doing
that is that they could vote down the Stupak amendment, and still
see the bill pass anyway, only without the pro-life protections.
Tough call.
UPDATE: Bart Stupak says there are 225 votes to pass his
amendment, Roll Call
reports..
UPDATE II: Boehner repeated the same exercise with the other
relevant committee chairmen, Charle Rangel and George Miller, and
neither of them would offer any sort of guarantee.
