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Abortion vote today could decide fate of heath plan
By: Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
December 7, 2009
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev., speaks after the U.S. Senate voted to begin debate on legislation for a broad healthcare overhaul at Capitol Hill in Washington as Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., right, and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa looks on. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

A pep talk by President Obama wasn't enough to give Senate Democrats the votes they needed to pass a massive health care overhaul, but a Monday vote on abortion funding could determine whether the legislation survives.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the chamber would take up an amendment by Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., that would strictly prohibit taxpayer money from being spent on abortion.

"I want to get it out of the way," Reid said. "I think we all do."

But the amendment could ultimately stand in the way of the bill's final passage, no matter what the outcome of the Monday vote.

The decision on the abortion amendment will be a decisive moment. If it fails, anti-abortion Democrats including Nelson and Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., may vote against the final bill. But if the amendment passes, the party's many senators who support abortion access, such as Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., could walk away.

Nelson's amendment is based on a provision authored by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., that would prevent insurance plans that received taxpayer subsidies from covering abortion. Stupak's amendment to the House bill that passed last month has become a lightning rod on the Left.

But abortion is one of two major problems for the overall bill.

Moderate and liberal Democrats met late Sunday to try to work out a deal to create a government-run insurance program.

Moderates, including Nelson and four others, oppose a new health entitlement program, while liberals including Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Roland Burris, D-Ill., refuse to support a bill without one.

A group of moderates and liberals are working on a compromise program that would mirror the insurance benefits offered by the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan. The program would be operated by the Office of Personnel Management, which already has oversight of the plan for federal employees, rather than Health and Human Services, which manages insurance programs for the poor and elderly.

"That's gaining momentum," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., told The Examiner.

But such a plan would be a tough sell for senators like Nelson, who much prefer a plan that would be run by the states, rather than the federal government.

Despite the differences, Senate Democratic leaders Sunday insisted a deal was imminent.

"We are close to getting this done," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said.

Obama delivered what was described as a "powerful" speech about the problems Democrats believe they inherited from the Bush administration and their own party's efforts, like the stimulus plan, to help the economy. He told them America was counting on them to get a health care bill passed.

"We didn't expect him to come up here with some secret plan to save the bill," Durbin said. "He just encouraged us to stick with it."

sferrechio@washingtonexaminer.com
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