How Did Catholic Lawmakers Vote?
Seventeen Catholic Senators Vote to Pass Abortion Funding Senate Bill - Eight Oppose
Catholic Senators Vote to Pass Reid Healthcare Bill Allowing Federal Funding for Abortions
On Christmas Eve the Senate voted 60-39 to pass the heathcare reform bill. Democrat Senator Nelson made an agreement with majority senate leader Harry Reid to support the bill based on the insertion of abortion-compromise langage that allows states to opt-out.
The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops responded to the compromise abortion language in a Dec 22 letter stating that "the current health care reform bill is “deficient” and should not move forward without “essential changes.”
In the Senate version, “federal funds will help subsidize, and in some cases a federal agency will facilitate and promote, health plans that cover elective abortions,” the bishops said. “All purchasers of such plans will be required to pay for other people’s abortions in a very direct and explicit way, through a separate premium payment designed solely to pay for abortion. There is no provision for individuals to opt out of this abortion payment in federally subsidized plans, so people will be required by law to pay for other people’s abortions.”
Many pro-life groups were disappointed with Nelson's compromise. The National Right to Life Committee's legislative director Douglas Johnson said the Reid Amendment was “light years removed" from the Stupak-Pitts Amendment in the House version of the bill.
“The new abortion language solves none of the fundamental abortion-related problems with the Senate bill, and it actually creates some new abortion-related problems,” Johnson continued.
Pro-life advocates were hopeful one of the two Democratic senators that identify as pro-life would be the one vote they needed to stall the bill. But, Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Bob Casey (D-PA) and all Democrat senators voted to pass the Reid healthcare bill.
The eight Catholic Republican senators who voted against the bill were Senators; Murkowski (R-AK), Mieux (R-FL), Risch (R-ID), Brownback (R-KS), Vitter (R-LA), Collins (R-ME), Johanns (R-NE), and Voinovich (R-OH). Senator Collins was the only senator with a pro-choice voting record who voted against the bill. Senator Bunning (R-KY) did not vote.
Catholic lawmakers voting to pass Reid's bill, H.R.3590, were Senators; Begich (D-AK), Dodd (D-CT), Kaufman (D-DE), Durbin (D-IL), Harkin (D-IA), Landrieu (D-LA), Gillibrand (D-NY), Mikulski (D-MD), Kerry (D-MA), Kirk (D-MA), McCaskill (D-MO), Menendez (D-NJ), Casey (D-PA), Reed (D-RI), Leahy (D-VT), Cantwell (D-WA), and Murray (D-WA).
The bill will now move to a House-Senate conference committee where it will be reconciled with the House bill which contains the pro-life Stupak amendment.
| H.R. 3590 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act | |||
| Measure Title: | An act entitled The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. | ||
| State | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alabama: | Sessions (R-AL), Nay | Shelby (R-AL), Nay |
| Alaska: | Begich (D-AK), Yea | Murkowski (R-AK), Nay |
| Arizona: | Kyl (R-AZ), Nay | McCain (R-AZ), Nay |
| Arkansas: | Lincoln (D-AR), Yea | Pryor (D-AR), Yea |
| California: | Boxer (D-CA), Yea | Feinstein (D-CA), Yea |
| Colorado: | Bennet (D-CO), Yea | Udall (D-CO), Yea |
| Connecticut: | Dodd (D-CT), Yea | Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea |
| Delaware: | Carper (D-DE), Yea | Kaufman (D-DE), Yea |
| Florida: | LeMieux (R-FL), Nay | Nelson (D-FL), Yea |
| Georgia: | Chambliss (R-GA), Nay | Isakson (R-GA), Nay |
| Hawaii: | Akaka (D-HI), Yea | Inouye (D-HI), Yea |
| Idaho: | Crapo (R-ID), Nay | Risch (R-ID), Nay |
| Illinois: | Burris (D-IL), Yea | Durbin (D-IL), Yea |
| Indiana: | Bayh (D-IN), Yea | Lugar (R-IN), Nay |
| Iowa: | Grassley (R-IA), Nay | Harkin (D-IA), Yea |
| Kansas: | Brownback (R-KS), Nay | Roberts (R-KS), Nay |
| Kentucky: | Bunning (R-KY), Not Voting | McConnell (R-KY), Nay |
| Louisiana: | Landrieu (D-LA), Yea | Vitter (R-LA), Nay |
| Maine: | Collins (R-ME), Nay | Snowe (R-ME), Nay |
| Maryland: | Cardin (D-MD), Yea | Mikulski (D-MD), Yea |
| Massachusetts: | Kerry (D-MA), Yea | Kirk (D-MA), Yea |
| Michigan: | Levin (D-MI), Yea | Stabenow (D-MI), Yea |
| Minnesota: | Franken (D-MN), Yea | Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea |
| Mississippi: | Cochran (R-MS), Nay | Wicker (R-MS), Nay |
| Missouri: | Bond (R-MO), Nay | McCaskill (D-MO), Yea |
| Montana: | Baucus (D-MT), Yea | Tester (D-MT), Yea |
| Nebraska: | Johanns (R-NE), Nay | Nelson (D-NE), Yea |
| Nevada: | Ensign (R-NV), Nay | Reid (D-NV), Yea |
| New Hampshire: | Gregg (R-NH), Nay | Shaheen (D-NH), Yea |
| New Jersey: | Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea | Menendez (D-NJ), Yea |
| New Mexico: | Bingaman (D-NM), Yea | Udall (D-NM), Yea |
| New York: | Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea | Schumer (D-NY), Yea |
| North Carolina: | Burr (R-NC), Nay | Hagan (D-NC), Yea |
| North Dakota: | Conrad (D-ND), Yea | Dorgan (D-ND), Yea |
| Ohio: | Brown (D-OH), Yea | Voinovich (R-OH), Nay |
| Oklahoma: | Coburn (R-OK), Nay | Inhofe (R-OK), Nay |
| Oregon: | Merkley (D-OR), Yea | Wyden (D-OR), Yea |
| Pennsylvania: | Casey (D-PA), Yea | Specter (D-PA), Yea |
| Rhode Island: | Reed (D-RI), Yea | Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea |
| South Carolina: | DeMint (R-SC), Nay | Graham (R-SC), Nay |
| South Dakota: | Johnson (D-SD), Yea | Thune (R-SD), Nay |
| Tennessee: | Alexander (R-TN), Nay | Corker (R-TN), Nay |
| Texas: | Cornyn (R-TX), Nay | Hutchison (R-TX), Nay |
| Utah: | Bennett (R-UT), Nay | Hatch (R-UT), Nay |
| Vermont: | Leahy (D-VT), Yea | Sanders (I-VT), Yea |
| Virginia: | Warner (D-VA), Yea | Webb (D-VA), Yea |
| Washington: | Cantwell (D-WA), Yea | Murray (D-WA), Yea |
| West Virginia: | Byrd (D-WV), Yea | Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea |
| Wisconsin: | Feingold (D-WI), Yea | Kohl (D-WI), Yea |
| Wyoming: | Barrasso (R-WY), Nay | Enzi (R-WY), Nay |