Nelson Fails to Add Abortion Limits to Health Bill (Update2)
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By Nicole Gaouette and Laura Litvan
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate refused to add stricter limits on abortion funding to health-care legislation, jeopardizing Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson’s support for the overall plan.
The Senate voted 54-45 to reject Nelson’s amendment. While he said his proposal would simply preserve the prohibition on federal funding of abortion, opponents argued it would discourage insurance companies from covering the procedure.
The loss means Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may have to find a compromise to gain Nelson’s backing for the overall legislation, which is intended to cover 31 million uninsured Americans and curb rising medical costs. Reid needs all 60 votes controlled by Democrats to pass the measure unless he can win a convert among Republicans.
“This is not the right place for this debate,” Reid said before lawmakers voted to take the amendment from consideration on the Senate floor. “We have to get on with the larger issue at hand” and work on the health-care plan, he said.
Reid, an antiabortion Democrat himself, said he believes the current Senate bill does enough to prevent federal dollars from paying for the procedure.
‘No Plan B’
After the vote, Nelson said the amendment’s defeat makes it harder for him to support the legislation, although he’ll listen to compromises on abortion if someone offers them.
“We’ll just have to see what develops,” Nelson told reporters. “I don’t have a Plan B. I don’t know if anyone else has a Plan B. But I don’t see much room for compromise.”
Anti-abortion activists criticized the vote and called on Democrats who oppose abortion to vote against the larger bill.
“The vote reflects a callous disregard for the protection of innocent human life,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law & Justice, a Washington-based group that describes itself as focusing on constitutional law.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, called the vote a victory for women’s health and said it sent a message to lawmakers who supported Nelson’s amendment.
“This is the first thing we’ve won in years,” Feinstein said, referring to battles over abortion. “The march has been to continue pressure to make it more difficult in every way, shape and form to get access to abortion. Bit by bit by bit they’ve been chipping away.”
Unacceptable to Republicans
Republican Senator Michael Enzi of Wyoming said he didn’t expect any abortion language that gets into the final bill to be acceptable to his party or pass the House, which accepted the tougher language that Nelson couldn’t get through the Senate.
Earlier in the day, Reid said he would keep consulting with Nelson in a search for a compromise.
“I’m happy to continue work with Senator Nelson,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told reporters. “If in fact he doesn’t succeed here, we’ll try something else.”
Reid is pushing the Senate to pass the 10-year, $848 billion bill before the end of the month. That would clear the way for crafting a House-Senate compromise early next year.
Like the $1 trillion measure passed by the House on Nov. 7, the Senate plan would require all Americans to get health coverage or pay a penalty. It would expand the Medicaid health program for the poor and provide subsidies for those who need help buying policies.
‘Sends a Message’
Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, one of Nelson’s co- sponsors on the abortion amendment, said the amendment’s failure would make it harder for Democrats to get support for the underlying bill.
“I think there’s going to be a lot more people opposed to it now,” Hatch said to reporters. He pointed to the Democrats who backed Nelson’s amendment and said “that sends a message.”
The Democratic senators who voted to keep Nelson’s amendment were co-sponsor Robert Casey of Pennsylvania, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Ted Kaufman of Delaware and Evan Bayh of Indiana.
Two Republicans voted against Nelson’s amendment, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, the two senators from Maine. The White House has been wooing the two moderates who are considered potential supporters of the larger bill.
Crowding Out Insurers
Other Republicans say the bill might crowd out private insurers, raise taxes and explode the federal budget deficit. They also object to a provision that would create a government- backed insurer to compete with private companies, a measure also disliked by centrist Democrats, including Nelson.
Nelson left the floor after the abortion vote and returned to talks with nine other Senate Democrats about a possible compromise on the public option. He added that all senators in the public option talks understand that even if they get a deal on that aspect he might vote against the bill.
He said he will continue to see if he can work with other senators to find a way to take the public option out of the bill, adding that he wants to see the overhaul “get enough votes to pass.”
He said it was unlikely that compromise language on abortion could be found. “I can’t honestly see how anything could be satisfactory,” he said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net; Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 8, 2009 19:43 EST
