Will Ben Nelson be #60?

Ben Nelson Reviewing Compromise on Abortion Funding in Senate Health Care Bill

Ben Nelson is beginning to be considered the 60th vote Senate Democrats need to stop a filibuster against the pro-abortion, government-run health care bill. His objection to the bill is over the massive abortion funding currently contained in it, and he is now examining a proposed compromise.

The current Harry Reid health care bill paves the way for considerable taxpayer funding of potentially hundreds of thousands of abortions annually through the public option and affordability credits.

Reid has a manager's amendment with changes to the bill that will be approved before the vote on the filibuster and bill itself are taken.


Pro-Life Groups: Casey's Abortion-Health Care Compromise for Nelson No Good

Pro-life organizations say the so-called "compromise" that Sen. Bob Casey presented late Wednesday to Sen. Ben Nelson to get him to vote for the pro-abortion government-run health care bill is no good. The National Right to Life Committee says the language keeps abortion funding in the bill.

As LifeNews.com has reported, Nelson is quickly becoming one of the few remaining linchpins for the health care bill.

The sponsor of an amendment to gut the abortion funding under the legislation, Nelson said he would support the filibuster of the bill if the abortion funding is not removed.

UPATE: Nelson Rejects "Compromise" on Abortion Funding in Senate Health Care Bill

Listen and Act Now to Stop Obamacare

PRECIPICE: [pres-uh-pis] noun.

1. An overhanging or extremely steep mass of rock,
   such as a crag or the face of a cliff.

2. The brink of a dangerous or disastrous situation:
   on the precipice of defeat.

(Source: American Heritage Dictionary)

Yesterday, President Obama asserted that he and
Democratic leaders in the Senate were "on the
precipice" of achieving the government takeover of
health care that would mandate taxpayer funding of
abortions and provide the failing abortion industry
with a massive bailout.

An appropriate word choice. Today -- even as a new
NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll revealed that now
only 32% of Americans support the abortion-laden
health care takeover -- it is clear that our nation
is indeed "on the brink of a dangerous or disastrous
situation."

But pro-life Americans are not sitting idly by!

In an effort to prevent millions of unborn children
from being thrown over this "cliff" tens of thousands
of people joined together for last night's Stop the
Abortion Mandate "Senate Crisis" webcast to:

 * Learn the latest breaking news straight from
   Washington, D.C.
 
 * Hear from a panel of nationally respected pro-life
   and pro-family leaders, gathered at a conference
   table just around the corner from the White House
 
 * Discover what pro-life Americans must do RIGHT NOW
   to keep our nation from going over this precipice
 
The entire event was recorded and the audio is now
posted online for you at:

http://www.StopTheAbortionMandate.com

During the recording, you will hear from dynamic
presenters including:

 * SEN. MIKE JOHANNS, U.S. Senator from Nebraska
 * ABBY JOHNSON, Former Planned Parenthood director
 * CHARMAINE YOEST, Americans United for Life
 * MARJORIE DANNENFELSER, Susan B. Anthony List
 * TONY PERKINS, Family Research Council
 * KRISTAN HAWKINS, Students for Life of America
 * DAVID BEREIT, 40 Days for Life
 * WENDY WRIGHT, Concerned Women for America
 * DOUGLAS JOHNSON, National Right to Life Committee

Listen now at:

http://www.StopTheAbortionMandate.com

As you heard last night -- or as you will hear on the
recording -- if the health care bill passes in its
current form, it will be the largest expansion of
abortion on demand since Roe v. Wade.

THIS week is CRUCIAL!

If you haven't called your two Senators and
Representative this week -- do it now.

If you haven't e-mailed your two Senators and
Representative this week -- do it now.

ACTION ITEMS:

1.) Listen to the Stop the Abortion Mandate webcast
    recording at:

http://www.StopTheAbortionMandate.com

2.) Contact your Representative and two Senators and
    tell them to remove all abortion funding and
    mandates from health care reform. Contact your
    elected officials here:

http://www.StopTheAbortionMandate.com/contact

3.) Pray for our elected officials. Pray that our
    nation -- founded on the inalienable right to
    life -- does not allow its government to fund the
    destruction of human life.

Obamacare: B.O.'s lies, fear mongering, reckless spending, and promotion of the culture of death lead to one thing...

Barack Obama appeared in an interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson trying to scare the American people into supporting Obamacare. In the span of 1 minute he spins many lies and uses fear mongering.



If Obama's horrific bill does pass most of his dire predictions will come true and more. Obama has already spent way too much of taxpayer's money through his wasteful and ineffective stimulus package. Now, he wants us to pay taxes for several years on a plan that will not go into effect until 2014, but that will also allow the federal government to: dictate which doctors we can see, decide how much and what type of health care we need, if any, and determine whether we live or die. Under Obamacare, the federal government will force us to pay for: abortion, death panels, and euthanasia. Under Obamacare, healthcare conscience protection rights will be non-existent. Authentic healthcare, as we have known it in our lifetime, will be non-existent. What's more, I am convinced this horrible plan will drive our country into the black hole of bankruptcy. I personally think B.O. is trying to destroy this country with all the reckless spending he is doing. Anyone with the least bit of common sense knows that you don't keep spending money you don't have to get out of debt. It might be a different story if he had spent the stimulus money on something useful or invested it in the future well-being of this country -- but what he has used it for is to promote the culture of death! Where are the jobs that it was supposed to produce? They are non-existent! If we allow him to keep spending our money to promote his culture of death, what kind of country will this be? Non-existent!

"Who Shall Live" The Bob Casey Legacy

Sen. Bob Casey was a courageous co-sponsor of the Nelson amendment, but now is looking to abandon his pro-life principles with a vote for pro-abortion health care reform.

Now is not the time to play politics with the lives of the unborn. Tell Senator Casey—one attempt to protect children and their mothers is, simply put, just not good enough.

Urge Sen. Casey to follow the unyielding pro-life leadership of his father, former Governor Bob Casey, and honor the consciences of pro-life Americans. Keep taxpayer funded abortion out of health care reform!

~ Via Susan B. Anthony List

Head of Christian Doctors Group Quits AMA Over Pro-Abortion Advocacy

The doctor who is the chairman of a national organization for Christian physicians and medical workers has resigned from the American Medical Association. Dr. David Stevens, the head of the 17,000-member Christian Medical Association, says the AMA has become a pro-abortion advocacy group.
 
Stevens told LifeNews.com on Tuesday that he is canceling his membership in the American Medical Association as a way of publicly protesting what he says is the AMA’s control by special interests that do not represent most physicians.

The AMA has come under fire for endorsing healthcare overhaul legislation after closed-door negotiations with legislators even though it contains the largest expansion of abortion funding since Roe v. Wade.

“I can no longer associate with or support an organization that is unscientific, unprofessional and controlled by special interests,” Dr. Stevens asserted in a letter sent earlier this week to the AMA.

Read the rest of the story here.

The Multi-faceted Evils of Federally-Funded HealthCare

If you think Federal healthcare is A-OK if only we can block funding for abortion, think again. Sometimes we get so caught up in the battle over abortion funding that we forget what else is wrong. Consider, for example:

• Other intrinsically immoral procedures;
• Coercive participation in such procedures;
• Violation of the principle of subsidiarity, to the detriment of human freedom, responsibility and dignity;
• Serious economic danger, including piling up debt for the next generation;
• Predictable decline in quality, innovation and rapid availability of key medical procedures.

Some of these are debatable; most are morally deleterious givens. The majority of citizens want improved coverage without a Federal takeover. But do the politicians have their own agenda? 

Read Phil Lawler's In Depth Analysis, The Catholic case against health-care reform.

Related Information:

Carl Olson at Inisght Scoop: Is the pending health-care reform legislation "a grave evil"?

Judie Brown at American Life League: SEVENTY-FIVE MILLION REASONS TO JUST SAY NO TO HEALTH CARE REFORM

Senators on ObamaCare

cross-posted from A Catholic View

Call Your Senators today!

The Lieberman Pincer: Key Senator "Ready" to Vote for Healthcare under New Deal

Furious backroom negotiations and last-minute deals are putting enormous pressure on two key Democratic senators to end their opposition to health care reform and pass the Senate version by President Barack Obama's Christmas deadline. Both Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) are the last public non-GOP holdouts to the current Senate legislation, but the latter has indicated he is now "ready" to vote for health care reform if Senate Democrats follow through on a deal that eliminates the government-insurance mandate.

Last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Democratic leaders signaled they would drop entirely the public option and the Medicare buy-in as part of a deal to get Lieberman's vote.

Bob Casey Will Likely Back Senate Health Care Bill Despite Abortion Funding

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, who claims to be one of two pro-life Democrats in the Senate, made it appear today that he will likely vote for the Senate's government-run health care bill. He would do so despite the massive abortion funding found in the bill that could result in tax-funding of hundreds of thousands of abortions.

Casey voted for the Nelson amendment to remove the abortion funding, but said today after a White House meeting with President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats that the process needs to move forward.

Casey did not directly say he would vote for the bill, but his comments were the most forward-looking yet in terms of him giving an indication of how he will vote.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson Says He Does Not Back Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson is holding out against the Senate health care bill because it funds abortions.

Nelson has pledged to filibuster the bill if his demand to remove the massive abortion funding, which could lead to tax-funding of hundreds of thousands of abortions, is not removed from the bill.

He sponsored an amendment to do that, but the Senate defeated it.

In recent comments, Nelson remains firm on wanting the abortion funding removed and his commitment to filibuster if that doesn't happen.

"I'm not blockheaded and I'm not stubborn," Nelson said in an interview on Monday with the Associated Press. "I've carved out what I can live with and what I can't live with."

"I can't get there [to vote for the bill without the abortion funding ban]," he said.


Roland Burris May Put Kink in Obama-Democrats' Plan for 60 Votes on Health Care

On a day when Democrats emerged triumphantly from a meeting with President Barack Obama appearing to have won the vote of Joe Lieberman for their pro-abortion health care bill, they may not be ready to celebrate yet. The Lieberman vote appeared to allow Democrats and Obama to secure 59 votes.

The only holdout left appeared to be pro-life Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska who says he won't vote for the bill because it funds abortions.

Political observers need to hang on to their hats because pro-abortion Sen. Rolland Burris of Illinois, ironically the lawmakers appointed to take Obama's seat until the next election, may throw the Senate for a loop.

Burris says that now that the public option has been emaciated to get Lieberman's support, he may very well vote no on the bill.