It’s news when a U.S. senator bases his vote on moral principles, instead of how much pork he can get for it in exchange.
Pro-life Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., says he simply won’t vote for the Senate health care bill if it reverses longstanding federal policy and includes government funding of abortions. Nelson told Nebraska reporters to ignore rumors about White House threats or offers of extra funding for his state: “My vote is not for sale — period.”
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn,, was tasked with coming up with a compromise that Nelson could support, which Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee calls “entirely unacceptable” because it “would break from the long-established principles of the Hyde Amendment by providing federal subsidies for health plans that cover abortion on demand.”
Nelson wants a ban on using government subsidies for policies that include abortion coverage, similar to what pro-life Democrats in the House, led by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Wis., forced their leadership to include in the House version of health care reform.
Nelson, who represents the 60th vote Democrats need to pass the health care bill, is under extreme pressure to fall in line. But Senate Democrats previously rejected Nelson’s amendment to insert the House’s stronger anti-abortion language into the Senate version. Unless they’re willing to backtrack, or force Nelson to, they won’t be able to pass the bill by Christmas.
