Stung by restrictions in healthcare bill, abortion rights supporters fight back

As the fight over a healthcare bill moves from the House to the Senate, abortion rights groups are rallying to make sure the Senate's version does not contain antiabortion language approved by the House.

After a pitched, months-long battle and a successful lobbying effort by the country's Catholic bishops, the House's narrowly passed version would make it impossible for many women to purchase health insurance that covers abortion. 

The Stupak-Pitts amendment says health plans purchased with the help of government money cannot include abortion coverage. Low-income women using federal subsidies, even small ones, to buy heath insurance would not be able to buy plans that cover abortion. Abortion foes contend that this is simply an extension of existing law, which for 30 years has prohibited the use of federal money for most abortions.

But supporters of abortion rights say Stupak-Pitts is more restrictive than current federal law. If the country ends up with a public option, Stupak-Pitts would prevent any of those plans from offering abortion coverage, which means a woman using her own money to purchase a plan through the (presumably less expensive) public option would not be able to buy a plan that covers abortion. Also, they claim, insurers would have less incentive to offer abortion coverage.

Such restrictions, say abortion rights groups, are unacceptable since abortion is a legal medical procedure.

This week, the Center for Reproductive Rights unveiled a new campaign, "Abortion Coverage is No Joke." At a press conference in Washington, Nancy Northup, the group's president, introduced a woman whose insurance company would not pay for an abortion even though her fetus was diagnosed with a fatal abnormality. Not exactly stand-up material, but check out this video, which will play for a week on cable in the DC area:

Meanwhile, 20 House Democrats who voted for Stupak-Pitts are the subject of a new Internet petition. All 20 are identified by both Planned Parenthood and National Right to Life rankings as either solidly in favor of abortion rights, or nominally so, and some are believed by abortion supporters to have "buyer's remorse" over the restrictive amendment they voted for. 

For every signature, Credo (a division of  Working Assets, the telecommunications company that donates a portion of its profits to progressive causes), will send a coat-hanger, that hoary symbol of the back-alley abortion, to the 20. So far, according to the petition's website, more than 113,000 hangers have been sent.

-- Robin Abcarian

Video: Center for Reproductive Rights

West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd makes history, serving in Congress longer than anyone, ever

(UPDATE: 2:02 p. Pacific. A photo of a celebratory Sen. Byrd on the Senate floor minutes ago this afternoon has been added to this item above, courtesy of C-SPAN.)

Ever since Jan. 3, 1953, Robert Carlyle Byrd has represented West Virginia in Congress, first in the House, then in the Senate. If you're counting, that's 56 years, 10 months and 16 days.

Today he became the longest-serving member of Congress, eclipsing Carl Hayden, who represented Arizona from 1912, when the state joined the Union, until he retired in 1968. Hayden was known as the silent senator, so reluctant to speak that The Times once said of him, "No man in Senate history has wielded more influence with less oratory."

No one would make that claim about Byrd, known for his speeches on the history of the Senate, often delivered to an empty chamber, a 2-million-word extravaganza that is now available in printed form.

A lifelong Democrat who filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights bill, Byrd has since recanted his stance against equal rights for African Americans and called his membership as a young man in the Ku Klux Klan "the greatest mistake I ever made."

Known as "the champion of earmarks," Byrd has been in the Senate so long that many of the buildings and institutions in West Virginia are named for him. And because of his seniority, Byrd is now third in line in presidential succession -- behind Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The ailing Byrd, who turned 92 on Friday, spends much of his time these days at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. But on the Senate floor today, colleagues saluted him for his longevity.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid likened him to New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig, who played in 2,130 consecutive baseball games, a record later topped by the Baltimore Orioles' Cal Ripken Jr..

"Throughout history, forecasters have sentenced themselves to ridicule for prematurely assuming a skyscraper's height would never be topped, for promising an invention’s ingenuity would never be outdone," Reid said."Even so, I am willing to risk predicting that many of the records set by Sen. Robert Byrd will never be matched."

-- Johanna Neuman

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Sen. Robert Byrd becomes longest-serving lawmaker in congressional history

Photo: C-SPAN

Sunday shows: H. Clinton, Giuliani, Dunn, Duncan

ABC This Week with George Stephanopoulos: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and ABC's George Will and PBS' Gwen Ifill.

Bloomberg Political Capital with Al Hunt: ex-White House Communications Director Anita Dunn and Obama Budget Director Peter Orszag.

CBS Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

CNN GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Former CIA officer Reuel Gerecht, Claremont McKenna College's Minxin Pei, Harvard's Roderick MacFarquhar and "The Age of the Unthinkable" author Joshua Cooper Ramo.

CNN State of the Union with John King: Obama advisor David Axelrod, Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-Mont.) and CNN's William Bennett and Donna Brazile.

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace: Giuliani and Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci.

NBC Meet the Press with David Gregory: Clinton, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Related item:

Face the Nation wins a crucial demographic

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: EPA (Clinton in the Philippines)

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Michelle Obama sells healthcare to the ladies

Lest anyone forget, while Michelle Obama's husband talks diplomatic niceties all over Asia for nine days and Todd Palin's wife pushes her book from Barnes & Nobles to Sam's Clubs all across this country, the first lady, stuffy nose and all, stays back home to continue the desperate political business of selling healthcare reform. Especially to seniors.

We said, ESPECIALLY TO US SENIORS. Because polls now show support for the president's plan the weakest and waning among older Americans, who as we saw in recent interim elections are unlike younger Americans in that they actually show up to vote two years in a row.

Obama tells seniors, NOT A DIME OF MEDICARE MONEY WILL BE USED TO PAY FOR THE $1.3-TRILLION HEALTHCARE REFORM PLAN. As you can see in the transcript below, she calls Medicare "a sacred part of America's social safety net."

However, the Democrats' recently-passed House healthcare version would cut $400 billion -- possibly up to $500 billion -- from Medicare and Medicaid.

Women are a crucial audience for the Obamas and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to convince or re-convince about the Democratic healthcare plans because, as in many matters of the typical family, they play a disproportionate role in finding, arranging and obtaining medical care for everyone else, often at the expense of themselves.

So Obama was before a friendly, receptive audience today when she gave her pitch and, revealingly in the ongoing PR struggle, felt the need to correct what healthcare reformers call misinformation or false information "out there."

(BTW, although she's still doing way better than her husband deep down in the 40s now in favorability ratings among Americans, new Gallup numbers indicate the first lady's popularity has started to slide too, from a high of 72% last spring to a still-impressive 61% now.)

Keep scrolling for the entire Michelle Obama transcript, along with a news video down there, courtesy of Politico.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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First Lady Michelle Obama's Remarks on Healthcare Reform and Older Women, as provided by the White House

MRS. OBAMA: Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. First of all, forgive me -- I’ve got children, and now I have a cold. (Laughter.) It goes along with the territory.

Let me begin by first thanking Tina Tchen, who’s doing an outstanding job as Director of the Office of Public Engagement by opening up this White House to the American people and....

Embarrassed Republican Party opts out of abortion coverage for employees

Since 1991, the National Republican Committee has offered its employees a health care policy from Cigna that includes coverage for elective abortions. Given the GOP's major push to keep abortion coverage out of President Obama's health care reform bill, the news of the party's own insurance policy  -- which Politico broke yesterday -- came as something of an embarrassment.

“We were not aware of this, obviously, and this will, of course, be fixed,” said James Bopp Jr., a Republican National Committee member from Indiana and an attorney who serves as counsel to the National Right to Life organization. “I think Chairman Steele will see to it that that’s the case.”

That would be Michael Steele (pictured above), chairman of the RNC and a longtime abortion foe, who said in a statement today, "Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose. I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled."

Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak rallied anti-abortion forces in the House this week to enact an amendment that would ensure no government funds go to abortion coverage. The bill is now in the Senate, where pro-abortion forces are galvanizing their supporters to reverse the vote.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: RNC Chairman Michael Steele. Credit: Win McNamee / Getty Images North America

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As Obama leaves for Asia, GOP gains first lead on generic congressional ballot since he took office

Time was when American presidents in domestic trouble would travel abroad to be seen positively back home as a world leader.

Then-freshman Sen. Barack Obama was hoping for a little of that back in the summer of 2008 when he staged his expensive campaign rally with an adoring throng in downtown Berlin. Alas, Germans couldn't vote for him -- or a Republican. But it looked great stateside for a few days.

After a brief media statement this morning to get him plastered on the daytime news, President Obama will make the long flight (just ask Sarah Palin) to Alaska to talk with U.S. troops at Elmendorf Air Force Base at local lunchtime while Air Force One refuels for a flight to Tokyo, beginning the president's nine-day trip across Asia. Talk about throngs.

Obama could use some good political news because as he boards the plane with his own bedroom and shower stall, word spread from the Gallup Poll folks that for the first time in over a year, more Americans say they would pick Republicans on a generic congressional ballot than a Democrat.

It's now 48% Republican and 44% Democrat. And this comes after months of the ...

Scozzafava, the moderate banished by conservatives, vows to fight for the soul of the GOP

Last week, she dropped out of the race for New York's 23rd congressional district, throwing her support (with a friendly push from the Obama White House)  to the eventual winner, Democrat Bill Owens. The move was a political stunner, an attempt to thwart conservative Doug Hoffman, who was surging in the polls after attracting support from such heroes of the right as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and setting off a blood feud within the Republican Party between pragmatists and ideologues.

This week, in retaliation, Republicans in the Assembly stripped Dede Scozzafava of her leadership position there.

But the moderate Republican assemblywoman, who counts herself a champion of local politics over ideological purity, says she has no regrets and may even run for Congress again -- as a Republican.

"How can Sarah Palin come out and endorse someone who can't answer some basic questions," Scozzafava said in her first lengthy interview in today's Washington Post. "Do these people even know who they are endorsing?"

Bemused by commentators who now use her name as a verb -- as in Florida Gov. Charlie Crist could be "scozzfaved" as a moderate in the Republican Party's bruising Senate primary fight -- she thinks there are more of her than of them.

"There is a lot of us who consider ourselves Republicans, of the Party of Lincoln," she said. "If they don't want us with them, we're going to work against them."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Gary Walts / Washington Post

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Does House healthcare bill end abortion coverage?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a great vote counter. 

As the healthcare vote on Saturday night demonstrated, she knew just how many votes she had to turn to win the bill. And she did it by allowing lawmakers from swing-state districts -- many with strong Catholic constituencies -- to first vote against insurance funding for abortion. 

Abortion foes hailed the move as what was called "a nail in the eventual coffin of Roe v. Wade."

Now, as the bill moves to the Senate, pro-abortion groups are mobilizing for a fight.

"It is unconscionable that anti-choice lawmakers would use health reform to attack women's health and privacy, but that's exactly what happened on the House floor," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. "The fight is not over. ... We will continue to mobilize our activists and work with our allies in Congress to remove this dangerous provision from the healthcare bill and stop additional attacks as the process moves to the Senate."

Added Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, "Women do not plan to have unintended pregnancies. ... Proposing a separate abortion rider or single-service plan is tantamount to banning abortion coverage since no insurance company would offer such a policy."

New York Democrat Anthony Weiner said this morning that the House bill, in effect, leaves women without protection. Even if someone wants to purchase her own policy that covers abortion, he said, she might have trouble finding an insurance company to offer it. Take a listen.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer leave a Democratic caucus where President Obama spoke in advance of the House vote on healthcare reform. Credit: Getty Images

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Eric Cantor takes on Rush Limbaugh, harsh GOP rhetoric

Can it be? Another Republican leader taking on Rush Limbaugh? Apparently so. And that leader is Virginia’s Eric Cantor, the second-highest-ranking GOP member in the House.

But first a little history. Earlier this year Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, labeled Limbaugh’s talk show “incendiary” and “ugly.” After Limbaugh and his many listeners expressed their displeasure, Steele apologized--and pretty quickly, too.

Which makes today’s comments by Cantor all the more interesting. In a segment on “Political Capital with Al Hunt” being aired today, he touches on Limbaugh comments that have been, shall we say, less than inclusionary.

He also suggested that harsh rhetoric from party members might harm the GOP in the long run:

"The Republican Party in its root is a party of inclusion and we ought to be promoting that and making sure that voices are heard."

This bit of news comes from Bloomberg, in an article about Cantor's comments on the show, which airs on Bloomberg Television. As the article states:

"His comments about Limbaugh and other members of his party put him at odds with some party leaders. Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, also took issue with Limbaugh’s comments, then relented.

"Cantor was critical of Republicans such as Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, who called the Democratic health plan a greater threat to America than terrorists and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who took fellow Republican Olympia Snowe to task for voting with Democrats. Pawlenty later said the Maine senator is 'absolutely welcome' in the party."

Follow this link for Bloomberg's full report.

-- Steve Padilla

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Photo: Eric Cantor. Credit: Associated Press

Republicans threaten to retaliate against Dede Scozzafava in NY-23. 'If this is my end, so be it'

Dede Scozzafava is the moderate Republican assemblywoman who withdrew from the congressional race in New York's District 23 and threw her support to Democrat Bill Owens. You could call her the forgotten player in the race.

In a district that had been in Republican hands since the 19th century, Scozzafava's support helped Owens beat back a conservative maverick, Doug Hoffman, whose surging candidacy was fueled by Tea Party activists angry about her moderate views on abortion, gay marriage and President Obama's $787-billion stimulus package.

Now, Republicans in the New York Assembly are threatening to retaliate by stripping Scozzafava of her party roles.

Minority Leader Brian Kolb is openly talking about removing her as the GOP floor leader. The two have held several meetings, with Kolb expressing his disappointment in her action.

For her part, Scozzafava is talking about whether she even wants to stay in politics, or seek a seventh term in the Assembly next year. She told Kolb that she was sorry if she put him in an awkward position, but she doesn't sound sorry to have robbed conservatives of a voice in Congress.

"If this is my end, so be it," she told the Watertown Daily Times. "At least I know we have a congressional representative who is going to put the interests of the district above the interests of the Club for Growth and Rush Limbaughs of the world."

The move to punish Scozzafava is reminiscent of what Democrats wanted to do after Connecticut independent Joe Lieberman, who had been the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, went out and campaigned all through the 2008 presidential campaign for Republican John McCain.

As Ticket reported earlier, the Democrats were also pretty ticked off last month when Lieberman threatened to filibuster a healthcare bill if it contained a public option.

Lieberman gets to chair the Government Reform Committee because he caucuses with the Dems, and many of them wanted to strip him of his chairmanship after the presidential defection.

The man who persuaded them not to: Barack Obama.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo credit: Associated Press

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