Posted by
Patriot Pastor on Thursday, October 29, 2009 6:25:51 PM
Source: Family Research Council
"Americans' health care is too important to risk on one gigantic bill that was negotiated behind closed doors," Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said yesterday. Unfortunately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) doesn't share his philosophy and waited until this morning to let Americans in on her secret overhaul of the system. After long weeks of keeping voters--and Members--in the dark, Pelosi's version of reform is finally public. From what we can tell, her plan retained little of what was hashed out in committee. Instead of relying on collaboration, the bill is solely a Pelosi product that makes a mockery of the committee process.
Although she claims the legislation isn't a "robust public option," it clearly is. What she proposes would lead to a government takeover of health care and steamroll private plans in the process. Any cost-conscious Members will still be troubled by the price of reform. Depending on whom you ask, Pelosi's plan is slated to cost anywhere from $900 billion to more than $1 trillion in 10 years.
Of course, FRC's greatest concern is that the Speaker's bill still includes government-funded abortion over the loud protests of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). "We have to have a vote," he told C-SPAN. "I don't know why we have to change that basic principle in our law." Nor do 39 House Democrats who are committed to killing the bill if they cannot amend the plan. "The Speaker is not happy with me," Stupak said. But there's an easy solution for Pelosi: exclude abortion funding from the final bill.
According to a new poll, plenty of Americans would support her in that decision. The idea of taxpayer-funded abortion is hugely unpopular among a large sample of U.S. women. WomenTrend, a division of the polling company, just released new numbers from a sweeping survey and found that 67% of women regardless of age, race, region, and marital and parental status don't believe the government should pay for abortion (page 10). Even in Pelosi's own party, a majority (55%) of Democratic women are unwilling to subsidize abortions. This issue is a non-partisan no-brainer. Yet Speaker Pelosi's "abortion is healthcare" position was on display today, as she was joined at the press conference introducing her bill by notorious late term abortionist Leroy Carhart.