My apologies for writing again on health care.  There are many other issues worth addressing (e.g., mandatory H1N1 vaccinations, ethical advances and declines in stem cell research, the state of the economy, war in Afghanistan, etc.), but this one is of critical importance at the moment.  The debate will soon be history.  If we lose, which seems increasingly likely, defenders of the unborn will be fighting a fiercer rear-guard battle than ever before.  The President’s party is resolute on pushing through the largest pro-abortion legislative reform in U.S. history (Roe v. Wade was not an act of the legislature).  And it appears it will be successful.  Here’s a brief update to keep you at real-time in the national discussion.

For health care reform to become federal law, both houses of Congress need to pass sister versions of the legislation.  The versions then need to go to committee to be combined into a single bill, which, after passing a final vote, is signed into law by the President.

House and Senate versions of a bill begin in subcommittees long before reaching a full vote on the House and Senate floors.  The committees are battlegrounds where compromises can be brokered and controversial measures moderated.  Because of the complex procedures governing committee activity, many bills, especially controversial proposals, never pass out of subcommittees—they “die in committee.”  For a bill to “get out of committee” is very significant.

Presently, three committees from the House of Representatives and two from the Senate, all controlled by Democrats, have successfully passed abortion friendly versions of health care legislation.  Each committee has passed its own version, making the total numbers of health care bills passed by Congressional committees five.  They include:

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
    1. Ways and Means Committee, Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY); passed HR 3200 back in July.
    2. Education and Labor Committee, Chairman George Miller (D-CA); also passed HR 3200 in July.
    3. Energy and Commerce Committee, Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-CA); passed HR 3200 in August.  Before the final vote, two members of the Committee, Democrat Bart Stupak (MI) and Republican Joe Pitts (PA), offered an amendment that would have explicitly excluded abortion funding from the bill.  The Stupak/Pitts Amendment passed by a one vote majority.  Waxman, using his authority as Chairman, called for a second vote—a rare and ultra-partisan maneuver—and the second time around the amendment failed by one vote.  Since that time, no attempt to exclude abortion by any member of Congress, Democrat or Republican, has been successful.

SENATE:
    1. Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa); passed the “Affordable Health Choices Act” back in July.
    2. Finance Committee, Chairman Max Baucus; passed the so-called “Baucus Bill” (i.e., the Finance Committee’s version of the “Affordable Health Choices Act”) last week along party lines, with one Republican breaking ranks, Senator Olympia Snowe (Maine).

What now? 
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is meeting with Democrats behind closed doors in an attempt to reconcile the two Senate versions into a single bill, which he would then bring to a full vote on the Senate floor.  Likewise, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is meeting with House leaders to decide how to merge the three House versions.  After the three are reconciled, HR 3200 will go to the House Rules Committee.  It doesn’t go straight to a full debate on the House floor, since the House, unlike the Senate, does not permit “unlimited debate.”  The House permits only minor revisions on a bill passed out of committee, which are performed by the Rules Committee. 

The process of reconciling rival versions of a bill usually entails significant compromise.  But under the present leadership of the House and Senate, compromise is demanded only among Democrats, who are unlikely to broker any compromise which would entail a ban on government funding or expansion of abortion. 

If they voted today?
Both the Senate and House leadership are shooting to secure a November vote.  The Senate has 59 Democrats (60 before Senator Kennedy’s death) and 40 Republicans.  The bill needs only 51 votes to pass, which it certainly will receive.  If the vote breaks exclusively along party lines, which is likely, the legislation will pass with 59 votes, one vote short of what’s needed for cloture (which means closure of debate, excluding even the possibility of filibuster).  If Republican Senator Snowe votes with the Democrats, which is uncertain, then cloture is secured and health care passes in the Senate.  If she votes with her party, a filibuster is still possible.  Whether the Republicans would use this tactic is uncertain.

The House of Representatives has 256 Democrats and 178 Republicans.  HR 3200 needs only 218 votes to pass.  Again, unless something very significant occurs, its passage is assured.  To my knowledge, cloture does not exist in the House.  But nor are House members permitted to filibuster (the filibuster was abolished in the House in 1889).  This means that, although they have a right to be heard and to vote, the minority party rarely succeeds in opposing a bill strongly supported by the Speaker’s party. 

This is nothing more than representative politics.  In most situations, I’d defend the eventuality as reasonable, even though on the losing side—noting that sides change rapidly.  But in this situation, reason and democracy are the losers.  During their August recess, members of Congress heard loudly and clearly the misgivings of ordinary Americans on the question of government-run health care.  And rather than moderating their radical plans to conform to the people’s will, the Pelosi-Reid progressives called these concerned citizens “un-American,” “Nazis” and “evil-mongers.”  That’s not representative democracy; that’s will-power politics. 

What do we do?
How many more letters, faxes and emails can we send to our political representatives?  Will more phone calls make any difference?  More town hall meetings?

Since most of our readers are Christians, I think the best thing we can do now is pray.  “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29).

(c) 2009 Culture of Life Foundation.  Reproduction granted with attribution required.