Armed with a new weapon to beat President Obama and congressional Democrats with, Republicans are aggressively building a campaign to use the administration’s demand that religious institutions provide birth control to employees against them.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, for example, is alerting supporters in a fundraising email that the president’s decision is another abuse of his power. “The Obama administration’s decision to trample on the religious liberty of Christian charities – forcing them to provide free birth control – is a frightening sign of how far Democrats will go to impose their government takeover of health care. In a country founded on religious liberty, Democrats have now done the unthinkable,” said NRCC Executive Director Guy Harrison.
NRCC spokesman Paul Lindsay added, “This issue goes to the heart of everything that is wrong with the big government agenda Democrats are pursuing in Washington, and it is yet another reminder of why their massive health care takeover is being rejected. If Democrats can trample on our health care decisions and our religious freedom, what part of our lives with they violate next?”
A senior advisor to House and Senate Republicans said that the GOP will use the president’s birth control mandate in key races. “This is not a passing problem for Obama and House and Senate Democrats. This is a permanent problem that everyone on the Democratic ballot is going to have to answer for,” said the advisor.
GOP officials expect Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will push for a vote on the issue, drawing Democrats in backing the president or not.
Obama won the Catholic vote in 2008, 54 percent to Sen. John McCain’s 45 percent, but top congressional aides said the president’s move could lose him the vote, potentially making it a game changer in the fall. The Obama campaign disputes that.
