|
 |
 |
|
Dems looking to adapt Hyde amendment for health bill
House health legislation will ultimately include provisions barring public funding for abortions, a key Democratic leader maintained Wednesday.
Democrats are looking at adopting language similar to the Hyde amendment, which barred using federal funds for abortions, in healthcare reform legislation to placate pro-life Democrats, who have threatened to withhold support for the package unless it included such prohibitions.
"We're working very closely with Bart Stupak (D-MIch.) and that coalition of Democrats to write a the bill in a way that makes it absolutely clear that no public dollars can go to funding abortions as part of the health reform bill," Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the assistant to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said during an appearance on Fox News this morning.
Van Hollen, who also serves as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), a group which may have to defend the seats of some of those pro-life Democrats in 2010, predicted that the issue would be resolved to the satisfaction of Stupak's group.
"I believe that we're going to get to a solution," Van Hollen said. "I didn't say that everybody would be satisfied. I said that I think the great majority of people who have raised these issues would be satisfied."
The Maryland Democrat described a consensus among Democrats that the bill would not allow any funding for abortions, and that the hang-ups revolved around how the legislation would be crafted to achieve that end. Van Hollen said the bill may include something similar to the 1976 Hyde amendment, which barred federal funding of abortion through the Department of Health and Human Services.
"We're trying to codify the Hyde amendment as part of the healthcare reform bill," Van Hollen explained.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
