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The Spectacle Blog
The Senate just voted to table Sen. Ben Nelson’s abortion amendment, by a 54 to 45 vote.
The vote could prove significant because Nelson has claimed he would filibuster any bill that did not include his Stupak-like abortion language.
The amendment would have required 60 votes to be adopted, but Democrats chose to table, or kill it, which only requires a simple majority.
In the lead up to the vote, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid tried to claim pro-life credentials before coming out against the Nelson measure. “I’ve consistently cast my vote against abortion,” Reid said.
But he went on to claim that the underlying health care bill preserves current law and prevents taxpayer money from subsidizing abortion, while arguing that the Nelson provision went further.
“We have to keep moving toward the finish line and cannot be distracted by detours or derailed by diversions,” Reid said. And echoing Obama, he insisted, “This is a health care bill, it is not an abortion bill.”
UPDATE: Here’s the official roll call. Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins voted in favor of tabling the amendment. Democrats voting against tabling it (and thus for the amendment) were: Sens. Nelson, Bob Casey, Evan Bayh, Byron Dorgan, Kent Conrad, Ted Kaufman, and Mark Pryor.
UPDATE II: The Hill reports: “It’s made it harder to be supportive. We’ll just have to see what develops,” Nelson said after the vote. “We’ll have to see if they can make it easier.”
And on working with Reid to find common ground on abortion: “I had no Plan B,” Nelson said. “Maybe somebody else has a Plan B, but I don’t see that this is one where there’s really any room for compromise.”
View all comments (15) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Philip Klein
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/12/08/senate-kills-nelson-abortion-a
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ECM| 12.8.09 @ 5:50PM
"derailed by diversions"
Life=a "diversion" from that pro-life champion, the (soon to be retired) senator from Nevada.
(Yes, I know: he's pretty solidly pro-life, but how pro-life can you be if you're tossing it aside for expediency's sake?)
Pingback| 12.8.09 @ 6:01PM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Senate Kills Nelson Abo links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
j x p| 12.8.09 @ 6:03PM
Wonderful, Great news, Kill the abortion ammendment. Harry... you twist the truth, that's called lying.
Warrior | 12.8.09 @ 6:06PM
I guess Ben Nelson will be branded as a supporter of slavery.
Yosemeti Sam| 12.8.09 @ 11:08PM
" ... In the lead up to the vote, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid tried to claim pro-life credentials before coming out against the Nelson measure. "I've consistently cast my vote against abortion," Reid said...."
Yeah?
Well, tell it to your master Beezlebub!
You coward!
JT| 12.9.09 @ 11:46AM
lol...absolutely right...these people will answer for their actions toa power higher than their constituents...it would be nice if they were more expedient to remember THAT.
poptoy| 12.9.09 @ 12:33AM
One of my Senators....Mary Landrieu voted to kill the Nelson Amendment. Can you imagine a Senator from Louisiana doing that? Louisiana is extremely pro-life with a large Catholic Population. Landrieu herself claims to be a Catholic. You can't prove that by her vote and by the amount of money she accepts from pro-abortion groups. She is not up for re-election until November 0f 2014. She is a goner. She will never be re-elected. But then again Harry Reid gave her a bundle and she took the bribe. Nuff said.
Sam| 12.9.09 @ 2:06AM
Abortion opponents are lucky to have gotten so much from the Stupak amendment, especially under a Democratic Congress. Finally, the Democrats put principles before politics, especially since conservatives will never give them any credit anyway for supporting such amendments.
ds80| 12.9.09 @ 8:50AM
lucky to have gotten so much
... what is that supposed to be? A consolation prize? Tell that to the innocents yet to be slaughtered.
Michael | 12.9.09 @ 10:16AM
"Principles" can be considered on advocating for abortion? Since Republican opposition is now attached to advocacy for slavery, can Democrats now be called the "lynch mobs" from the day?
JT| 12.9.09 @ 11:50AM
Hey Sam, try telling that to a kid whose mom decided not to have an abortion, even though she may have been on the fence. I don't get where they get this "principles" thing from...the only argument they've got left now is "health of the mother,"...hhhhmmmm...sounds like they're running out of ammo....hopefully it's just a small matter of time before our nation stops legalizing murder...I guess it took a major revolution to overthrow slavery, it will take the same to turn abortion around...it's coming though Sam...you'd better be ready. Time for people to close their legs and own their mistakes.
Disgusted| 12.9.09 @ 1:00PM
This "health care bill" has become a collection of special interest pork funds, compromises, and nothing to really control insurance companies.
The 2 Senators from Maine should be thrown out of the Republican party.
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