It seems that House Democrats have given up on negotiating with Rep. Bart Stupak, who has repeatedly signaled his refusal to vote for health care reform unless his abortion language is included, resistant to the fact that reconciliation can’t be used to include said language:
House Democratic leaders have had desultory talks with Mr. Stupak, but appeared willing to bypass him if they conclude his vote is not needed. Mr. Stupak said he and at least 11 other House Democrats would vote against the Senate bill unless the abortion language was changed.
But Representative Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois, said she doubted that Mr. Stupak had as may votes as he claimed.
“There is no way in this legislation to satisfy Bart’s demands,” Ms. Schakowsky said. Mr. Stupak wants to bar the use of federal money to pay for any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of elective abortions.
Moreover, it looks like Stupak’s allies are folding to pressure from the leadership and outside groups (from the Hill):
But the Michigan Democrat, who claimed he had carried with him a dozen votes against the healthcare bill, suggested that his bloc of votes may be cracking, providing Democratic leaders with valuable votes for their pending healthcare measures.
“At this point, there is no doubt that they’ve been able to peel off one or two of my twelve,” he said. “The others are having both of their arms twisted, and we’re all getting pounded by our traditional Democratic supporters, like unions.”
You shouldn’t be shocked to learn that I think this is a good thing. From what I can tell, Stupak has never been negotiating in good faith, and now is as good a time as ever to ignore his demands, especially since he no longer has a stable bloc of votes to use as leverage. My only hope is that once health care reform is passed, liberal activists find a way to push him out of the party, or at least destroy any chance he had at a gubernatorial run. I’m all for a big tent, but the party really shouldn’t tolerate any member willing to derail signature legislation over an unpopular, narrowly held set of views.
0 Responses to “Stupak Fail”