Ellsworth Takes Heat From All Sides
Ellsworth Takes Heat From All Sides
November 4, 2009
By: Kasie Hunt with Billy House contributing
An anti-abortion Democrat circulated a plan Tuesday to strengthen abortion restrictions in House Democrats' health reform overhaul, drawing fire from Democrats who support abortion rights.
Ellsworth Takes Heat From All Sides
November 4, 2009
By: Kasie Hunt with Billy House contributing
An anti-abortion Democrat circulated a plan Tuesday to strengthenabortion restrictions in House Democrats' health reform overhaul,drawing fire from Democrats who support abortion rights.
Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., is working with anti-abortion Democrats to make sure the health bill contains ironclad rules prohibiting federal funds from being used to provide abortion. "The bottom line is we're going to exhaust every avenue to ensure pro-life concerns are addressed in this legislation," Ellsworth said in a statement.
Ellsworth said his plan would include measures to make sure federal money is not used to provide abortions under the public plan; prohibit federal money from paying for abortion services in any plan purchased through the exchange; strengthen accounting rules requiring insurance companies to separate private premiums from public subsidies; and expand conscience protections for plans that do not provide abortion.
Ellsworth's proposals would strengthen language drafted by Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., and accepted in the House Energy and Commerce Committee's markup of the overhaul. The changes are aimed at assuaging the concerns of enough anti-abortion Democrats to ensure House leaders have enough votes to bring the bill to the floor.
But Ellsworth's efforts have drawn fire from lawmakers who support abortion rights. "The healthcare bill already includes language that restricts federal funding of abortion," said Kristofer Eisenla, a spokesman for Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., co-chairwoman of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus. "This issue was addressed with the adoption of the Capps Amendment during the Energy and Commerce Committee markup of the legislation."
Ellsworth is also facing strong condemnation from anti-abortion advocates. The effort "serves no purpose except to assist Speaker Pelosi in her attempt to peel votes away," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee.
Under the current bill, HHS would write regulations determining whether the public plan would be allowed to cover abortion services. Ellsworth's proposal would not change that but would add layers of protection to ensure that private money paid to the public plan would be kept out of government coffers.
Johnson said anti-abortion groups can't accept such a construction. "If the federal government insurance plan pays for abortions, that is federal funding for abortion," he said. Johnson said his organization would consider the vote on the rule bringing the healthcare bill to the floor as a direct representation of members' positions on abortion.
House leaders are working to finish a manager's amendment to the overhaul package they released last week. They delivered the package of changes late Tuesday night. That could push a final vote on the bill until at least Saturday if they are to fulfill their pledge of allowing 72 hours for people to read the changes. [Updated from print version.]
The House Rules Committee could meet as early as Thursday to structure floor debate. Leaders are considering including any changes to the Capps amendment language in the rule itself, though the final construction has yet to be determined.
House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, also a co-chairwoman of the Pro-Choice Caucus, said Tuesday she remains opposed to including abortion compromise language in the rule for debate on the bill.
"There's talk about doing that. There's talk about not doing that. I'm the one leaning against it," said Slaughter. "Rules have gotten harder and harder to pass around here," she said.