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Healthcare Reform Bill Abortion Debate is Nonsensical
Tweet Share on Facebook March 12, 2010 Comment (41)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
House Democrats' attempts to satisfy Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak over the "abortion issue" in healthcare reform have reportedly finally ground to a predictable and in some ways deserved halt. I say predictable because it has seemed clear for some time that there was no available compromise on the issue: Abortion rules would not be eligible for consideration under reconciliation rules, and there aren't 60 votes in the Senate for more restrictive abortion rules (as it was, pro-choice senators held their collective noses to vote for restrictive language already in the bill).
And I say deserved because while I understand the need for the negotiations--passing the health reform bill is the greater good here--the fact is that they were meaningless because the health reform bill on offer simply wouldn't use taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. The "issue" here is of the angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin nature, unrelated to what the bill actually does but focusing on what theoretical ripple effects it might have. Or, as the St. Petersburg Times put it today, it's "more about philosophy than funding."
Of course whether the health bill passes or not will likely turn on this issue more than any other.
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Are Republicans Trash Talking Into a Healthcare Reform Trap?
Tweet Share on Facebook March 10, 2010 Comment (11)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Republican leaders' concern for centrist House Democrats is really rather touching. But it may for a couple of reasons be self-defeating. Blue Dogs and other fiscally focused House Democrats wrestle with the issue of whether to vote for the Senate's version of healthcare reform--which has provisions they don't like--on the promise that the Senate will then pass a bill fixing said problems. One issue: House Democrats simply don't know if they can rely on their upper chamber brethren to follow through and pass whatever changes are agreed upon. Now come House and Senate Republican leaders with helpful advice for wavering Democrats: Don't trust the Senate, they'll hang you out to dry.
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Romney's 2012 Health Reform Problem
Tweet Share on Facebook March 9, 2010 Comment (10)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Mitt Romney told Fox News Sunday this past weekend that the healthcare overhaul he presided over in Massachusetts was the "ultimate conservative plan" which has little to nothing in common with the villainously liberal Obamacare plan inching through the Congress. Of course as the Huffington Post's Sam Stein points out, the Romney and Obama plans have several things in common, like insurance mandates, minimum standards, and subsidies for people who can't afford coverage. The key differences, according to Romney, are that his plan lacks price controls, and that Obama's plan is federal, rather than state based.
Anyway, as Greg Sargent reports, the actually conservative Club for Growth isn't buying Romney's healthcare repackaging. According to Sargent, one club official said "unequivocally" that it is "not a conservative plan," and that if Romney thinks otherwise, he's "in the wrong party."
Especially in 2012--and especially if the health overhaul passes--this is going to be a problem for Romney.
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Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh Unwise to Embrace Nutty Eric Massa
Tweet Share on Facebook March 9, 2010 Comment (37)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Is it possible that ex-Rep. Eric Massa is some sort of Democratic sleeper agent? Perhaps a clever test devised by Democratic leaders to tease out the worst cases of Obama-obsessed lunacy on the right? One can almost imagine the chortling in Democratic meetings: They hate Obama so much they'll believe anything if it casts him in a bad light. I'll bet they'd even embrace a patently nutty, single-payer-healthcare-touting, ethically tainted, backbencher if he was nasty to Rahm.
Consider the evidence.
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The Health Reform Abortion Debate
Tweet Share on Facebook March 5, 2010 Comment (90)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
If the healthcare push is neverending, it seems like the abortion part of it is deja vu over and over and over again. Today's Washington Post notes that once again that issue will play a pivotal role in whether the House passes President Obama's health reform bill (and thus whether it becomes law). One of the biggest problems is that neither pro-life forces, led by Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak, nor pro-choice lawmakers think much of the language about abortion funding in the Senate version of the bill. Stupak and his crowd argue that it would open the door for taxpayers to fund abortions; the pro-choicers fear that by forcing people to pay a separate premium for abortions, it will end up diminishing the choices available to women.
But it is at this point a take it or leave it proposition: It seems unlikely that new abortion language will be included in a sidecar package of changes that each chamber will try to pass under reconciliation rules. Stupak seems inflexible on the issue, and he could pull enough Democrats to sink the bill.
Back in December, we asked Stupak and California Democratic Rep. Lois Capps, who is pro-choice, to debate this issue. Stupak argued that the tough language he got into the House version of the bill was merely an extension of existing law. Capps made the case that the Stupak amendment went further than current policy. Check them out.
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Grover Norquist: Sarah Palin for President 2012 Looks Unlikely
Tweet Share on Facebook March 4, 2010 Comment (25)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Americans for Tax Reform's Grover Norquist, one of the conservative movement's top leaders, sat down with U.S. News editors and reporters recently to talk about the lay of the political land. When talk turned to 2012 prospects, he had interesting takes on a number of contenders, but one name he didn't include on his list of those running was former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Robert Schlesinger
Robert Schlesinger is managing editor for opinion at U.S. News and World Report, overseeing all opinion editorial content. He is the author of "White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters." E-mail him at rschlesinger@usnews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @rschles.
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