Outlook for Senate Health Bill Grim: Senators

cross-posted from A Catholic View

The two steadiest non-GOP votes against the senate health care bill reaffirmed this weekend that attempts at compromise so far have not won their support, and that the prospects for the bill continue to grow dimmer as time passes. While one Democrat senator claimed that there was, to the contrary, "tremendous momentum" behind the bill, the latest voter poll shows opposition holding a steady majority among American voters.

"The opposition to it has been growing as the week has gone on," Independent Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut said on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday. "There are not 60 votes for health care reform in the Senate now."

Lieberman, who normally caucuses with the Democrats, has consistently opposed any version of a public option in the bill, a feature some liberal senators consider essential.

story here

Stop the Abortion Mandate Senate Crisis Webcast: Sign up now!

With the Senate's defeat of the Nelson-Hatch-Casey amendment, which would have blocked government funding of abortions in healthcare reform, the 70+ pro-life and pro-family organizations comprising the Stop the Abortion Mandate Coalition are joining together on a nationwide webcast on Tuesday, December 15, at 8p CST/9p EST....
Register now at: www.StopTheAbortionMandate.com/webcast
Presenters will include: Marjorie Dannenfelser (Susan B. Anthony List), Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Kristan Hawkins (Students for Life of America), Charmaine Yoest (Americans United for Life), Douglas Johnson (National Right to Life Committee), Kristen Day (Democrats for Life), Wendy Wright (Concerned Women for America), and David Bereit (40 Days for Life).

Learn:

the implications of the bill the abortion industry is trying to ram through the Senate now

why respected leaders, national organizations, and pro-life people are joining together in record numbers to BLOCK this attempted power-grab

how YOU can make a difference at this crucial moment

Register for the important webcast now. This will be Stop the Abortion Mandate Coalition's 4th national webcast, and with 3 days notice, likely its largest.
Note: Even if you can't participate in the live webcast, go ahead and register because the entire event will be recorded. Our system will automatically allocate your spot to someone else, and as soon as your recording is ready (probably shortly after the end of the webcast) you'll be notified by e-mail.

~ Via Jill Stanek.

Fifteen 'Catholic' Senators voted against Nelson Amdmt

A total of fifteen self-described "Catholic" Senators voted to table the Nelson-Hatch-Casey Amendment, which would have significantly restricted abortion funding from the Senate health care bill.

The Catholic Democratic Senators who voted against the Nelson Amendment were Patrick Leahy of Vermont, John Kerry and Paul Kirk of Massachusetts, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Richard Durbin of Illinois, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington state, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Mark Begich of Alaska.


Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Catholic Republican to vote to table the Nelson Amendment.

Keep this list for future reference. Let's pray for the conversion of these Catholics in Name Only and remember their vote on this when they are up for election again.

What they did was immoral and against Catholic teachings and they have excommunicated themselves from the Church. We don't want people like this in office. 

Stupak to discuss pro-life prospects for health care bill in EWTN interview

Washington D.C., Dec 11, 2009 / 02:50 pm (CNA).- An interview with Rep. Bart Stupak, the Michigan pro-life Democrat who rallied 64 Democrats to amend the House health care bill to ban federal funding for most abortions, will be broadcast on EWTN Friday evening.
Arroyo, writing in a Friday e-mail, reported that Stupak has told him he is determined to accept “no compromise” on abortion. The Congressman wants the Hyde Language to apply to the federal health care bill in order to bar government from funding abortion except in very limited cases.
“With the defeat of the Nelson amendment in the Senate, Stupak and his band of pro-life democrats are the last line of defense,” Arroyo wrote.
“After weeks of ignoring him, the White House arranged a meeting with Stupak last night. They are obviously nervous--and they should be,” he revealed.
The EWTN host, who described Stupak as a “committed Catholic,” said the interview will reveal what the Congressman is prepared to do next and how he intends to keep his pro-life language in any health care bill.
The interview will be broadcast on EWTN’s The World Over at 8 p.m. Eastern Time Friday night.

SEVENTY-FIVE MILLION REASONS TO JUST SAY NO TO HEALTH CARE REFORM

One of the least reported, but most blatantly repugnant expenditures contained in the Senate version of the health care reform bill is the allocation of $75,000,000 to Planned Parenthood and its cohorts for the express purpose of initiating the “Personal Responsibility Education for Adulthood Training” programs.
What could such a program be about, you might ask? Well, let’s examine the facts according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, better known as SIECUS. They are reporting the following:

[T]he Senate Finance Committee approved an amendment offered by Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) to fund a comprehensive sex education funding stream, The Personal Responsibility Education for Adulthood Training. The amendment provides $75 million for states; $50 million of which would be geared to evidence-based, medically accurate, age-appropriate programs to educate adolescents about both abstinence and contraception in order to prevent unintended teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. The remaining funds would be for innovative programs as well as research and evaluation....Read more

Fr. Frank Pavone: "Health Care hijacked by abortion extremists"

Staten Island, NY – Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, commented on the Senate’s vote on the Nelson Amendment to the health care bill.  

“Those in the Senate who rejected this Amendment have voted to let their attachment to the abortion industry interfere with health care reform in this country. These Senators could have listened to their constituents and opposed abortion funding. Instead, they are allowing this effort at reform to be hijacked by abortion extremists.”

Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

Another Kennedy blasts the Bishops on abortion

Here's another Kennedy who just doesn't get it and is scandalizing the public with her anti-life views.

Catholic World News reports the following:

Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the eldest child of Robert F. Kennedy, has blasted the nation’s bishops for opposing the use of federal funds to pay for abortions. Mrs. Townsend is the first cousin of Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), whom Bishop Thomas Tobin has publicly called to repentance and conversion for supporting abortion.
“There are millions of pro-abortion rights Catholics who understand that women faced with unintended pregnancies or complications in wanted pregnancies have to make difficult, complex decisions for themselves and their families,” Mrs. Townsend writes. “They do not make the decision to have an abortion lightly and without weighing all of their options. They must retain the ability to make this decision and the ability to access the care they need, whatever their choice may be. That means they must have access to health insurance that covers abortion care-- just as millions of Americans must have access to affordable health insurance and health care.”
Straining credulity, Mrs. Townsend’s concluding paragraph leads readers to believe that the Vatican would support health care legislation that would fund abortions. “I want Catholic bishops to heed the Vatican’s call for charity and justice for all, not just for the wealthy and well connected,” she writes.

Related Information:

A Kennedy Tries To Tell The Bishops How To Be Catholic