Tag: Stupak

28Furthermore, since they  did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved  mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with  every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of  envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are  gossips, 30slanderers,  God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they  disobey their parents; 31they  are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know  God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they  not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who  practice them. - Romans 1 (NIV)

Sitting in an airport, on his way home to Michigan, Rep. Bart Stupak, a pro-life Democrat, is chagrined. "They're ignoring me," he says, in a phone interview with National Review Online. "That's their strategy now. The House Democratic leaders think they have the votes to pass the Senate's health-care bill without us. At this point, there is no doubt that they've been able to peel off one or two of my twelve. And even if they don't have the votes, it's been made clear to us that they won't insert our language on the abortion issue."

..."If you pass the Stupak amendment, more children will be born, and therefore it will cost us millions more. That's one of the arguments I've been hearing," Stupak says. "Money is their hang-up. Is this how we now value life in America? If money is the issue -- come on, we can find room in the budget. This is life we're talking about."

Despite suggestions that Stupak is raising a fuss over abortion funding in the bill, his constituency is more heavily concerned with the bill itself.  Not that the First District isn't overwhelmingly Pro-life, it is, but Stupak is falsely emphasizing the importance of abortion wording in the bill.

The First District is more concerned with the bill itself and it's constitutionality.

It's called a red herring argument.

"Michigan's congressional delegation appears split along partisan lines for any health-care vote -- with one notable exception: Rep. Bart Stupak.

The Menominee Democrat says he can't support the proposal he's seen and not just because it lacks a provision he authored in a previous version to bar insurers receiving government subsidies from paying for abortions.

He can't support an excise tax on higher-priced health care plans, even with the amount at which it kicks in moved higher, and he doesn't like that the effective date for some parts of the legislation has been moved as far off as 2018.

"That's insane," Stupak said."

I found this podcast of the Frank Beckmann show, which is only accessible in these parts by computer streaming.

I am a huge fan of Frank Beckmann, even though I don't get to listen to him very often.

Stupak, Congressman of the 1st District, is enthusiastic about the idea, and helped suggest his district as a home to the Gitmo prisoners.  He first suggested an Upper Peninsula prison, but settled on Standish, which was due to close November 1st, 2009, 150 miles from Dearborn.

Then the Bill passed.

HR3962 Now goes to the Senate for Reconciliation, where the amendment will be removed before it is cleared, and the bill becomes law.

Take it for what you will... But those who put this amendment in there knew the only way to make sure that abortions and illegals are NOT covered by such a bill is to make sure such a bill is not passed.

Anyone who voted for this bill needs to go.

Stupak DID vote for HR3962

Stupak (D-MI) has been making it clear that he would not vote for the healthcare bill if it included federally funded abortion.  He and Rep. Ellsworth (D-IN) have introduced an amendment to the bill that:

    * Explicitly prevents all federal tax dollars from being used to provide abortions in the public option;
    * Prohibits any funds from the US Treasury from paying for abortion services in any of the plans purchased through the proposed Health Insurance Exchange-private or public;
    * Establishes clear, strict rules for separating public funds from the premiums of private individuals (ensuring that no public funds  are ever used to pay for an abortion in any health plan offered on the Health Insurance Exchange);
    * Guarantees every American participating in the Health Insurance Exchange will always have access to a pro-life insurance option;
    * Expands conscience protections to prevent the government from discriminating against pro-life health insurance plans.  (Taken from Ellsworth's website.)

But, taking to the floor this afternoon, Stupak signaled that he would indeed vote for the bill, and continued to encourage his Democrat friends to support his amendment.

The bottom line is, Stupak sees nothing wrong with the government takeover of healthcare.

As theblogprof points out, at a recent town hall in Cheboygan Stupak said: