Pelosi Makes Her Bed -- and Lies in It

FRC Action: Doctors announced that President Obama passed his annual check-up--but the most important one may come in November. Whether voters still think he and his party are "fit for duty" on Election Day may depend on what happens in the next few weeks. Despite last week's high stakes talk, the President is tossing aside the same bipartisanship he promoted on television to force his reforms through a reluctant Congress. According to White House advisors, all signs point to the reconciliation process, which would protect the bill from Republican opposition by calling for a simple majority vote.

Right now, however, it's unclear whether Democrats even have enough of their own party on board to succeed. A handful of key "ayes" have already promised to peel off the House majority if Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) moves forward with legislation that removes Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) outright ban on taxpayer-funded abortion. Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) told Congressional Quarterly on Thursday, "I will not vote for a health care bill that doesn't have the House abortion language in it." His Mississippi colleague, Rep. Gene Taylor (D), agreed. "It's a fairly safe bet that if they include the Senate language on abortion, the legislation would go down."

Of course, Speaker Pelosi would have us believe that the President's plan (a mildly modified version of the Senate bill) does erect a wall between taxpayers and the bloody business of abortion. During Friday's press conference, there weren't enough lie detectors in the greater metropolitan area to process all the whoppers. "Let me say it this way, there's three, three, I don't want to say principles, but three standards that we are using as we go forward, and I talked to the Catholic Bishops about this and people on all sides of the choice issue... Federal law prevents federal funding of abortion. There is no federal funding of abortion in this bill. There'll be no expansion or diminution of a woman's right to choose... This bill that passed the Senate does not have federal funding of abortion."

Not surprisingly, the Catholic Bishops have a different take on the conversation. In a counter-statement, the USCCB was flabbergasted. "We do not know how anyone who has spoken to the bishops could conclude that the Senate health care bill does not fund abortions. As bishops have said in their letters to Congress, abortion problems in the Senate bill are so serious that, despite our strong support for expanding access to health care, we will have to oppose the bill unless they are resolved."

One More Point -- For Pelosi and Rangel, The Ends Justify the Ways and Means?
When she isn't keeping the AP Fact Checkers busy, the Speaker of the House is trying to cover for her party's ethical deficiencies. One day after the House ethics panel "admonished" Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) for taking vacations on the corporate dime, Pelosi defended him in the press. While other Democrats called for him to step down from his powerful post as the head of the Ways and Means Committee, Pelosi said the twenty-term congressman should stay put. For a woman so bent on taking out then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) for similar deeds, her tune has radically changed in six years. This weekend, she shrugged off the charges, telling ABC, "It was not something that jeopardized our country in any way."

It may not have jeopardized the country, but it would be naive to think it hasn't jeopardized her party. Tagged with an unpopular health care bill and now a culture of corruption, the Speaker would have been wise to heed at least one campaign promise--to lead "the most ethical Congress in history." Among other things, the House is investigating Rep. Rangel's improper leasing of four rent-controlled apartments, his failure to report rental income from a vacation property, and the decision to redirect contributions to a personal project. In 2006, Nancy Pelosi said she would "drain the swamp" of Washington corruption, but so far the only thing her party has drained is American confidence in the legislative system. Sign the FRC Action Petition to Speaker Pelosi asking for Rep. Rangel to step down from his powerful chairmanship.

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