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welcome back to Hardball. US congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado is co-chair of the congressional
pro-choice caucus and she is opposed to the Stupak amendment language that wound up
in the house bill
Congresswoman, thank you for joining us what do you make of the president's statement
both before the congress where he said, back two months ago where he said... let's take a look
at the president's speak in his own words in you responsd Congressman here he is speaking in congress
and one more
misunderstanding I want to clear up
under our plan
no federal dollars
will be used to fund abortions and federal conscience laws will remain in place
and here he is yesterday on this matter but stating it somewhat differently
this is a health care bill not an abortion pill
and we're not looking to change what is a core principle that has been in place for a very long time
which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize
abortions
Congresswoman, federal dollars should not be used to fund abortions or
even to subsidize abortion. Does that language bother you?
actually Chris that language was was language that we compromised on last summer
in the bill that came through my committee, the Energy and Commerce committee
we believe that the President does
that
this bill is about health care, health care for thirty six million Americans not about
abortion
and so this summer the pro-choice members of Energy
and Commerce
we compromised for some of the other members on our committee
and we passed language that said exactly that
in this bill we will not have federal
funding used for abortions
unfortunately
this Stupak amendment that was passed as part of the bill on Saturday
goes far far beyond current law and what it says is
in the public option and in the insurance exchange
people cannot even use their private
dollars
to buy insurance coverage that will pay for full reproductive services
that would be the biggest expansion of anti-choice laws in my entire career
but the President said he's against any subsidization
of abortion wouldn't subsidize insurance plans which cover abortion be a subsidy it's
his words subsidy, not mine
no actually the President I think agrees with us because
under current law
we have several things some businesses get tax credits right now for offering
insurance plans to their employees and those plans
cover abortions
right now under Medicaid federal funding cannot be used to pay for abortions under the Hyde
amendment
but seventeen states
fund abortions with their state dollar, federal program that the states are administering
and the federal money's not used
so in fact that what we're saying is
people who are in the exchange if they get the premium support
let's say they pay a hundred dollars a month for their insurance
and they get ten dollars have premium assistance
that ten dollar should not be able to use the
for abortions
but why can't their private money be used to pay
for full coverage
it seems to me
Congresswoman if the federal government is subsidizing by saing we'll pay ten percent
of it or twenty percent of it like for ethanol or anything else they subsidize
they're subsidizing and I'm giving you the view
of those who are pro-life they don't like the idea of the federal government subsidizing
abortion like it would ethanol or anything else the government chooses to encourage
well isn't the government choosing to encourage insurance companies to cover abortion
if it subsidizes that coverage, I'm just asking you an analytical question
absolutely
not, in fact that's not what the Hyde amendment says
what current laws says is
federal money shall not be used to pay for abortions except for
with the life *** or ***
and we agree with that but current law doesn't talk about subsidizing that's
that's beyond current law
well the President does, last night on nightline the President said he's against
subsidizing abortion
he used the word subsidized
I think the President agrees with me and I could be wrong
but I will tell you this
that's we were willing to compromise and we still are
we think that if people don't feel like him
the Hyde language is well enough defined in the bill
we can talk about ways that we can keep federal dollars from funding abortions
but why should we say
to a middle class businessmen and small businesswomen
who can't get insurance right now because she can't buy into a big group
you can't buy insurance
in the public option
that has a full range of reproductive services with your own private dollars
why do we say that? that's way beyond anything contemplated in current law
okay let's see, I hope you can solve this problem in the interest of health care, Congresswoman
I hope we get a compromise because there wasn't...
one at hand last Saturday night there wasn't a compromise that satisfied your concerns and
the speaker who's pro-choice
went along with the other side of this argument
actually the speaker voted against this amendment too and she's very rarely ever votes on the floor
and she didn't support the amendment either
the reason she was forced to allow it to be put up on the floor
is because
Congressman Stupak and and others
said that they would vote against final passage of the bill
and she wanted to keep the bill moving along I do too, i'd like to work this out and I think
we will be able to work this out
well good luck thank you very much Congresswoman DeGette