Senate majority leader Harry Reid is saying that he will not pass the one week C.R. because it includes a ban on taxpayer funding of abortions in D.C.
“It’s not realistic to shutdown the government on a debate dealing with abortion. It’s not fair to the American people,” Reid said this morning.
There’s just one catch: Democratic leaders have previously (and frequently) passed the ban.
In 2009, President Obama signed a budget that included the ban on taxpayer-funded abortions in D.C. Who passed that budget? A Democratic House and Senate. In fact, Reid has voted for a budget that includes the ban ten times since 1995. And he’s not the only Democrat: in addition to signing the budget in ’09, Obama twice voted for legislation that included the ban, while Vice President Joe Biden has voted for legislation including the ban seven times.
In fact, the ban has been in place for many years: 1988 to 1993 and then from 1996 to 2009.
Restoring the ban would not be a revolutionary policy shift, but a return to the status quo of many years.
Awesome bit of data mining Ms. Trinko.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIs abortion that much of a winner for him that he can publicly posit that and be perceived as credible? or, is Planned Parenthood so powerful that he's wiling to shut down over their wishes? I'm really curious. For me, it's "troop funding versus abortion in DC" and it just seems asymmetrical.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm shocked, SHOCKED to you hear, to find that there is hypocrisy in the heart and actions of Harry Reid!!!!
(btw, bravo on the new captcha--mine to enter this was prophetic for Harry and Barack since it said, and I quote: "That hurts")
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFor once, I don't think the Dems are wrong. If you are doing a CR to prevent a shutdown, leave out the riders. Tagging them onto a short term CR means you are not simply looking for a time extension, but you are sneakily trying to score points for your favorite interest group.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBaines,
I will confess I don't know the amount of funding involved, but having a CR drop funding for a program that was just introduced and not well liked, in this case funding for DC abortions, seems a very much a sane budget action that happens to reflect a policy.
Aren't Fed funds excluded from supporting this elsewhere?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe real story here, Hope, is that Reid and Obama are grasping at straws to keep on course for a shutdown. Either their ginned-up indignation gets reported by the MSM as substantiation of Obama's spurious "ideology" charge (and their plan to blame GOP for shutdown works), or Obama and Reid score for THEIR ideology by getting D.C. abortions funded publicly.
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