UPDATE: The Senate did not vote on the Hatch-Nelson amendment over the weekend (instead they listened to a closed-door speech on healthcare by President Obama….) but they are expected to vote on the amendment possibly sometime today, Monday, Dec. 7th. Please continue to contact your Senators and tell them abortion is not healthcare and to support the Hatch-Nelson amendment.
Senate Majority Leader Reid is expected to bring up for a vote the Hatch (R-UT) -Nelson (D-NE) pro-life amendment, which is expected to closely mirror the Stupak amendment, this weekend as the Senate is in session. Yes, they are working on the weekend.
Grassroots needs to move NOW on calling Senators to ask them to support the Hatch-Nelson pro-life amendment. The Catholic Bishops are mobilizinig this weekend also. Go HERE for contact info.
It’s possible that amendment could pass with enough pressure from grassroots, especially on these Democrat Senators:
Bayh (IN), Byrd (WV), Casey (PA), Johnson (SD), Landrieu (LA), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), Reid (NV), Conrad and Dorgan (both from ND)
and Lincoln (D-AR).
Go HERE for contact info.
Most news reports assume the amendment will fail, but Senator Nelson has indicated that if the pro-life amendment is not included, he will support a filibuster and Harry Reid does not want that.
From the news:
If Nelson loses — as he well may — the dominoes will start falling for Reid.Without Nelson, the Democratic leader will be forced to seek support from either Collins or Snowe to keep the bill moving. – AP: Senate moderates hold key to health care’s fate (excerpt, 12/4/09)
As of late Thursday, the abortion issue remained the biggest point of contention. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who is among a handful of potential defections who could foil Reid in his quest for 60 votes, is expected to offer an amendment as soon as Friday that would ban abortion coverage in the Senate bill’s scaled-back public plan. Nelson’s measure would also prohibit people who receive tax credits for private health-care coverage from buying policies that include abortion services. Speaking to reporters Thursday morning, Nelson declared flatly that if his amendment fails,” I won’t vote to move [the bill] off the floor.” -Washington Post: Reid’s recipe for getting health-care deal done (excerpt, 12/4/09)
The much-courted centrist from Nebraska intends to offer an amendment to the bill (HR 3590) that would mimic abortion curbs included in health care legislation the House passed last month (HR 3962). Those restrictions — named for their author, Bart Stupak, D-Mich. — are unacceptable to abortion rights supporters, and Nelson’s amendment is unlikely to be adopted in a Senate dominated by lawmakers who favor abortion rights. In that case, Nelson said, he would join a Republican filibuster against the bill. “I said I would not vote to take [the bill] off the floor,” Nelson said Thursday. “That’s not negotiable.” – CQ: Nelson Insists on Abortion Limits (complete article, 12/3/09)
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