Senate Democrats say they won’t budge on opposing an anti-human trafficking bill unless Republicans strip out abortion limits.
Last month the Senate was poised to pass bipartisan legislation aimed at human trafficking, but at the last minute Democrats pulled their support over how it applied limits on funding for abortions. The bill prohibits trafficking victims from paying for abortions using a restitution fund supplied by fees from perpetrators.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Tuesday that Democrats have offered Republicans nine proposals to change the language but said they’ve all been “rejected.” Democrats are objecting because the bill upholds the longstanding Hyde Amendment restrictions on federal funding for abortion in a new way by applying them to a victims’ fund, not just taxpayer dollars.
“At the end of the day, we will not accept language that simply hides the Hyde,” Murray said. “If the Hyde language is in it, that’s a nonstarter for all of us.”
Republicans have refused to remove the language and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he won’t hold a vote on Loretta Lynch, President Obama’s attorney general nominee, until Democrats give in.