The Associated Press reports that Rep. Bart Stupak, the Michigan Democrat who’s led pro-life objections to the Senate health care bill, is “more optimistic than he was a week ago” that he can vote for the Senate bill when it comes before the House, perhaps in the next few days.
Stupak said he’s gotten assurances from Democratic leaders on language maintaining the federal ban on abortion funding that was in the House bill but not the Senate version that might let him endorse the Senate bill.
If so, Stupak is a sell-out to the pro-life cause. As Rush Limbaugh, National Review’s Rich Lowry, and others have noted, talk of passing a final health care bill through reconciliation is a distraction. If the House passes the Senate bill, Nancy Pelosi can send it to President Obama immediately for his signature and it will become law, reconciliation or no.
Pelosi could agree to any number of “fixes” to satisfy certain factions of her party and present them to the Senate. And the Senate would be under no obligation to act on them. (Indeed, the Senate’s almost certain to not adopt any amendments that didn’t pass in December; had it done so at the time, we’d have ObamaCare now.)
So if any deal is struck that wins the support of Stupak and other so-called pro-lifers who voted yes on the initial House bill, remember: These lawmakers are Democrats first, pro-lifers second.