By Kathleen Gilbert
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Both the White House and Congressional Democrats remained stuck at a crossroads over the weekend following the Massachusetts election that destroyed Senate Democrats' filibuster-proof majority, and in the process put the future of the health care overhaul in question. As the White House scrambles to regain popularity, and Democrats weigh health care success against a tough election season, the abortion issue has emerged yet again as the clearest issue that could block the health bill's path into law.
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) told the FOX Business Network Wednesday that the Senate bill in its current form, which would unleash federal funding of abortion, would meet with certain death in the House.
“I bet it wouldn't get a hundred votes,” he said.
Stupak was the House member most responsible for securing Hyde-amendment restrictions on federal abortion funding in the House bill in November.
“[Democrat leadership] tried to hit a homerun with health care instead of hitting – let's get a single, let's get a double. You know, build on this,” he continued. “But they went for the whole grand slam and it got thrown back. It got too big, too controversial, and it's just like they overreached.”
The House Democrat suggested that Obama and party leaders need to “be more in tune to what the people are saying.” “Yes, we want health care, but don't give us a 2,600 page bill that no one can understand, that most of the members have never read,” he said.
Stupak made the remarks a day after Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown shocked the nation by snatching the senate seat of Democrat icon Ted Kennedy in the state's special election. Brown rode to victory on a heavily anti-health-care-bill platform. His surprise win left Democrats facing re-election in November wondering whether their cooperation with Obama's health care agenda could spell their own political demise. Describing the impact of Brown's victory on Democrats, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) said Thursday: “People are at various levels of the seven stages of grief.”
So far, none of the options floated for rescuing the health care bill are without serious flaws. Both Stupak and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have indicated that the chamber will not pass an unamended version of the Senate bill, which would be the only way to pass the overhaul without subjecting it to a second vote in the Senate, where it would almost certainly fail.
“I don't see the votes for it at this time,” Pelosi told reporters concerning the Senate bill.
“Unease would be a gentle word in terms of the attitude of my colleagues toward certain provisions in the Senate bill.”
Democrats were hoping to secure such a vote in the House with promises of a later budget bill that could deliver some of the House's interests, and still pass the Senate with a 51-vote majority through the reconciliation process. Yet even the more moderate House bill originally passed with only two votes to spare – and more than two of the previous “yes” votes have confirmed they will not vote for the Senate bill, some citing its lack of adequate abortion restrictions.
“Everyone's talking about Plan B. Plan B is dead. We're not passing the Senate bill, so you best come up with Plan C now,” said Stupak.
Analysts have pegged President Obama's State of the Union address scheduled for Wednesday as a crucial moment for his administration's agenda. The speech essentially will be a tightrope-walk to pacify voters concerned over unemployment and the economy as well as liberals expecting an even stronger push for the health care bill.
Obama, who spent the weekend hashing out options for the health bill with Congressional leadership, signaled willingness to pursue a scaled-back version of the bill that could be passed with bipartisan support. Details on the form such a measure might take are unclear.
Meanwhile, administration officials cast the Massachusetts backlash as anger that the government had not done enough – although this interpretation appears to contrast with the message of the nationwide “tea party” movement, which is opposed to the federal government's encroachment into the private sector.
“What we learned from the Massachusetts victory is that people are sick and tired of Washington not delivering for them,” said White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett on “Meet the Press.”
It was also revealed this week that the White House plans to recruit former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe to revitalize the party's sagging image on health care reform as Democrats head into a midterm election season that could devastate the party's grip on Capitol Hill.
Republicans say that, should Democrats continue to hold the line on the unpopular bill, it will spell disaster at the ballot box in November.
“If they try to jam health care through on partisan lines, I think November 2010 will be a very good month for us,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told “Fox News Sunday.”
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Brown Win Leaves Dems Desperate, Scrambling To Salvage Health Care Bill
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10012002.html