Damned if they do, damned if they don’t

I was gone last weekend, so I wasn’t paying too much attention to the floor debate and amendment process that surrounded the healthcare bill.

That is why I was surprised when I saw Republicans (except for Rep. John Shadegg, Ariz.) vote for an amendment that made it easier for Democrats to pass their healthcare bill.

My understanding of the role of the minority is to be as unhelpful as possible, especially when the majority is passing legislation that not only offends the very principles of the minority, but will bankrupt the nation to boot. But Republicans did vote en masse for the Stupak-Pitts amendment regarding the government’s funding of abortion services. Apparently, it was scored by a key constituency of conservatives, the National Right to Life, and GOPers decided that they didn’t want to vote against it. When rumors floated that the Republicans might vote present in order to cause chaos among the Democrats, the pro-life groups shot down that option, giving the minority few other options.

As an armchair quarterback, I questioned the strategy of voting for the amendment. I even put such a question on my Facebook account. Why did we vote for the amendment if we knew it would ensure passage of the underlying bill?

Such a decision seemed a bit silly to me.

Today, the decision looks a little less silly. Now the ones who are in chaos are the Democrats. Their hardcore abortion-rights supporters are livid. Forty Democrats said that they would vote against any bill that contained the Stupak-Pitts language.

The National Abortion Rights Action League said that it would score the bill the other way if the conference report contained such offensive language. What seemed like a smooth road to final passage now seems a lot rockier.

The Senate doesn’t seem to have much interest in taking up the issue. As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) put it, “This is a healthcare bill, not an abortion bill.” If the Senate doesn’t include a provision on abortion funding, it will make the choice easier (and harder). Either take the House language or they drop. Either way, they offend somebody and make it harder to pass a final bill.

The problem with having the government take over the whole healthcare system is that issues like abortion and illegal immigration keep popping up. This is not the slam-dunk that the Democrats thought it would be.

The Daily Kos said that it will withhold funding to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee because it is supporting 18 Democrats who voted against the healthcare bill. That sounds like a good plan to me. Why should the Daily Kos boys support anybody who so dislikes what the hard left is pushing?

Of course, by withholding support to their most vulnerable candidates, the lefties make it easier for the GOP to take back the House.

The problem with influence of outside groups is that they don’t want to understand how the House or the Senate really works. They just want results.

For the Democrats, they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. They are damned if they make concessions to pro-life Democrats, because the hard left hates them. But they are damned if they don’t make those concessions, because in that case, there will be no bill.

So whatever decision the GOP leadership made on this debate, it seemed to work out for them.

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