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“Senate Defeats Blunt Amendment to Stop Obama HHS Mandate”

51 Senators have just gone on record to in effect vote against a foundational principle of our country’s philosophical genesis:

he Senate voted today against an amendment to restore the religious liberty protections for employers who don’t want to be forced to pay for birth control or drugs that may cause abortions in their employee health plans.

Leading pro-life organizations called on the Senate to vote for the amendment to the mandate the Obama administration issued, but Democrats banded together against republicans to defeat it on a 51 to 48 margin by adopting a motion to table, or kill, it.

Key pro-abortion senators including Clare McCaskill of Missouri and Jon Tester of Montana voted against the amendment — which will energize pro-life advocates against their re-election campaigns this November. On the other side, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Ben Nelson of Nebraska were three Democrats who crossed sides and voted with Republicans to support the amendment.

The text of the Blunt Amendment consists of the language taken from the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (S. 1467, H.R. 1179). It would amend the Obama health care law (“ObamaCare”) to prevent the imposition of regulatory mandates that violate the religious or moral convictions of those who purchase or provide health insurance.

During the debate, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) spoke in support of an amendment introduced by U.S. Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri,

In his speech, Hatch said that “…our Constitution demands that those individuals and institutions that object to providing these services on religious and moral grounds be protected.” Hatch added that “under this administration, our Bill of Rights has been subordinated to President Obama’s desire to micromanage the nation’s health care system.”

This is part and parcel of a coup. And sad to say, too many on the right simply refuse to acknowledge the seriousness of the matter.

Oh well. May you live in interesting times.

18 Replies to ““Senate Defeats Blunt Amendment to Stop Obama HHS Mandate””

  1. sdferr says:

    Olympia Snowe voted with the Democrats.

  2. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Of course she did.

    My take on her retiring? She’s doing the honorable version of a Jim Jeffords.

  3. JHoward says:

    But can you prove you’re not just a ‘toxic liar’, JG? ‘Full of raging hate’, the kind that prematurely takes out toxic liars?

    Hint: ‘Give me liverty or give me death’, was a toxic liar’s lie.

  4. McGehee says:

    This is why I think even if the GOP held 75 seats in the Senate and Obama or any other Dem officeholder were to commit mass murder on live TV by his own hand, even though the House might impeach unanimously, the Senate would never convict.

  5. JHoward says:

    Dear J,

    Hours ago, the U.S. Senate narrowly defeated a huge attack on women’s birth-control coverage.

    We couldn’t have beaten the Blunt amendment without you and the thousands of people who called, emailed, and tweeted at the Senate. You did it! Thank you.

    I’d love to report that this victory means that the fight is over – that women, wherever they work, will be soon get their birth control covered without a copay.

    The truth is, anti-contraception members of Congress are not letting up. There are at least four other bills attacking birth control that we have to defeat. And the U.S. House of Representatives held three hearings this week on this issue. These hearings come after the infamous all-male panel attacking coverage of contraception.

    We must tell every senator and representative that enough is enough. No more attacks on birth-control coverage.

    Opponents of birth control say that any employer or corporation—even the owner of your local Taco Bell or sporting-goods store—should be allowed to block their employees from getting insurance coverage of birth control.

    Have you noticed how all the pundits and groups that oppose the new birth-control policy aren’t talking about women at all? One of the congressional panels on contraception didn’t even include any women!

    We need to remind them that women in this country – 99 percent of them – use birth control. Starting in August, when women go to the pharmacy to pick up their prescription birth control, they won’t be charged a copay. I call that a win for women.

    But anti-contraception members of Congress not only want to undo the no-cost contraceptive-coverage policy. They are working to give every corporation or boss the right to take away birth-control coverage from their employees.

    We are not about to let that happen. Tell your members of Congress that birth control is basic health care used by nearly all women in this country.

    By taking action today, you are reminding Congress that birth control is basic health care for women. Try as they might to take women out of the debate, we’re not going to let them.

    Thank you for standing strong today.

    Nancy Keenan

    Nancy Keenan
    President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

    Why even bother parsing this bullshit.

  6. Jeff G. says:

    Are we to believe that without free birth control from the government, birth control itself disappears?

    This is a fabricated issue, and it should sink the Dems. Even with the media helping.

  7. JHoward says:

    In Keenan’s letter ‘a huge attack on women’s birth-control coverage’, already an enormous stretch, morphed into the bald-faced lie ‘anti-contraception members of Congress’ in the space of a paragraph.

    Across the nation proggs vigorously nod and then turn back to their televisions.

  8. geoffb says:

    What disease is prevented/cured by BC pills, RU-486, and abortion?

    One basic divide between the right and left is whether people are a problem to be removed.

  9. Ernst Schreiber says:

    It’s the most basic divide isn’t it?

    Rush has been hammering this all day by way of that Georgetown Law agitprop “victim” of our collective callous miserliness towards her libidnous needs.

    So much going on with this government guaranteed right to (sorta) consequence-free sexual gratification for us to unpack.

  10. Squid says:

    I still maintain that if I’m forced to pay for other people’s birth control, I should at least get to decide which ones have to use it. BECAUSE OF THE FAIRNESS!

  11. Ernst Schreiber says:

    There’s plenty on the Margaret Sanger/Herbert Croly wing of the Left who agree with you Squid.

    But they have a different definition of fairness.

  12. Squid says:

    Then we can compromise, Ernst. I’ve heard that they’re all about compromise lately.

  13. cranky-d says:

    I might consider paying for progressives’ sterilization, but I would want it done from a private fund. If they want consequence-free sex then they should commit to that.

  14. leigh says:

    What disease is prevented/cured by BC pills, RU-486, and abortion?

    None, unless we posit a disease model of pregnancy.

    Many women are prescribed birth control pills to regulate their menstrual cycles if their periods are irregular.

  15. Crawford says:

    I still don’t understand why I have to pay for sex when I’m not even taking part.

  16. leigh says:

    It sounds like you need to demand your rights, Rob. I see the makings of a class action suit.

  17. Crawford says:

    I bet Fluke would get ticked off if I so much as tried to watch.

    None, unless we posit a disease model of pregnancy.

    Seems to have done wonders for alcoholics.

  18. leigh says:

    The disease model of alcholism is falling out of favor with physicians and causing great shrieking and tearing of hair by people who run Rehabilitation Center$.

    Relapse is their bread and butter.

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