CONDITION RED CONGRESSIONAL ALERT

THIS IS A "CONDITION RED" CONGRESSIONAL ALERT FROM THE NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE COMMITTEE IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

ISSUED MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2010

PLEASE ACT IMMEDIATELY ON THIS ALERT.

President Obama, Speaker Pelosi pull out all stops to pass massive pro-abortion health care bill -- the days immediately ahead will decide the issue

WASHINGTON -- President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are making a final, all-out push to ram through a massive health care restructuring bill that the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) has branded "the most pro-abortion single piece of legislation that has ever come to the House floor for a vote."

The health care bill (H.R. 3590) has already passed the Senate, on December 24, 2009.  In order to enact it, however, Obama and Pelosi must convince a majority in the House of Representatives to also vote for the bill.

The Associated Press reported on March 7:  "In private pitches to Democrats, President Barack Obama says he will persuade Congress to pass his health care overhaul even if it kills him and even if he has to ask deeply distrustful lawmakers to trust him on a promise the White House doesn't have the power to keep. . . .The party's strategy calls for House Democrats, despite many misgivings, to go along with a health care bill the Senate passed in December [HR. 3590]. Obama would sign it into law, but senators would promise to make numerous changes demanded by House Democrats."

"House members who vote for the Senate bill will be accountable to their constituents for what the Senate bill contains, including its pro-abortion mandates and subsidies, without regard to . . solemn assurances that Congress will revisit the issue in future legislation, or any other artifice or gimmick," said NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson, in a detailed statement on the Senate bill issued by NRLC on March 5.  "Any House member who votes for the Senate health bill is casting a career-defining pro-abortion vote."

The NRLC statement describes seven separate pro-abortion components in the 2,407-page Senate bill, including provisions that would allow direct federal funding of abortion, federal subsidies to help purchase private insurance that covers abortion, and federal regulations that would expand access to abortion.  NRLC noted that these problems could have been prevented only by a comprehensive pro-life amendment such as that authored by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mi.).  The House passed the Stupak Amendment on November 7, 2009, but the pro-life amendment was opposed by President Obama and later rejected by the Senate, so it will not be part of the health care bill that the House actually votes on.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Time is short.  Most political observers agree that if Speaker Pelosi does not succeed in ramming the Senate bill through the House by the time Congress goes into recess for Easter on March 26, the bill is effectively dead.  Pelosi wants to force the vote by March 19.  But, she does not yet have the votes.  "I think we can get there, but I'm going to need help from any place I can get it," Pelosi told one group, according to the Los Angeles Times (March 8).

Whether she succeeds or not depends on what House members hear from their constituents during the next two weeks. 

Please immediately TELEPHONE the Washington, D.C. office of your U.S. House member.  Any U.S. House office can be reached through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121.  But better yet CLICK HERE and enter your zip code into the "Call Now" box, and you will be shown a direct-dial phone number for your representative in the U.S. House, along with helpful short talking points that you can use during your call.  You will also be shown a "Your Feedback" form, which allows you to easily send a short e-mail report to NRLC about how your conversation went, if you wish to do so.  This feedback is very helpful to NRLC's lobbying efforts against the health care bill.

The best time to call is between 9 AM and 6 PM Eastern Time.  If you call during the evening, you are likely to get a recording machine or a message asking that you call again during office hours.

Even if you previously have called your representative to oppose the health care bill -- please do it again!  And ask any like-minded friends and relatives to do the same.  Remember, President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are putting all their muscle into this, and they are getting plenty of help from the mainstream news media.  It is critical that your representative gets loud and clear guidance from the people who he or she actually represents.

AGAIN please immediately TELEPHONE the Washington, D.C. office of your U.S. House member.  Any U.S. House office can be reached through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121.  But better yet CLICK HERE and enter your zip code into the "Call Now" box, and you will be shown a direct-dial phone number for your representative in the U.S. House, along with helpful short talking points that you can use during your call.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Misleads on Abortion Funding in Health Care Bill

She's repeating the lies of Obama and Pelosi. They know that most people don't want to fund abortion with taxpayer money.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius contradicted herself on abortion funding in the Senate health care bill in a Sunday interview on NBC's "Meet the Press." Sebelius applauded the Senate language before and talked about mandatory abortion fees, but now she claims there is no funding.

Sebelius also appeared to contradict herself within the interview, saying at one point that abortion funding is a part of the government-run health care bill.

Sebelius was asked whether the Senate bill would be fixed to top the massive abortion funding it contains and other pro-abortion problems.

"There is no federal money paying for abortions," President Barack Obama's top health care spokeswoman maintained. "That's just not my statement, it is what, you know, a legal analyst who has looked at the Senate bill, it's what the fact checkers who look at the statements say."

Yet, when she spoke with ABC's "This Week" program yesterday, she said "Yes, abortion services are provided" under the Senate health care bill.

story here

TROUBLESOME: THE U.S.C.C.B.’S EMBRACE OF OBAMACARE

For the past couple of days, we have heard rumblings from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, starting with a very curious article in Politico.  David Rogers interviewed Richard Doerflinger, the USCCB’s associate director of pro-life activities, who apparently made the comment that if the House of Representatives agrees to what Stupak is asking for in the Obamacare bill, then the USCCB will work on the U. S. Senate to go along with the same language. The report does not say that the USCCB will generate advocacy from the Catholic laity, but rather that the organization itself will throw its weight around, which sounds a whole lot like lobbying and not much like holding the line for truly Catholic principles in health care reform.

The story continues,

“With a large network of Catholic hospitals and the [C]hurch’s gospel of social justice, the bishops have long called for expanded health coverage. As Kathy Saile, director of domestic policy for the conference, said last fall, ‘The bishops see it as a moral imperative and national priority.’

“But abortion has been a stubborn dividing point with the two sides fighting over how tight to make the ban on federal funding.”

It is of the utmost importance to clarify for the unsuspecting or uncatechized  that the Catholic Church does not teach that the killing of a child prior to birth by an act of abortion is the only intrinsically evil way to rob a person of  his or her life. There is also human embryonic stem cell research, many types of contraceptives, euthanasia and infanticide … each of which is equally evil, equally deadly and equally unmentioned by the USCCB in connection with Obamacare.

That is perhaps troubling enough, but there is more. We cannot help but think that the politics of so-called progressivism has become more important at the USCCB than the wishes of the Catholic faithful, who like the majority of Americans, don’t want Obamanomics shoved down their throats. Why is there such a rush to sate the liberal elements of the Democratic political machine and so little time to consider what is (as one Catholic cardinal explained to me) the job of the laity, not the hierarchy? As I recall, he told me that bishops are charged with preaching truth, and it is the people in the pew who are supposed to do the political work. However, apparently he, like so many of his peers, does not really believe that for a second. What a shame.

Entire article here.

Humor: SNL on ObamaCare