Senate Clears Major Health Care Vote 60-40

This socialized "healthcare:

• will cost over a Trillion dollars
• is over 2,000 pages
• will fund and greatly expand abortion:
• was voted on at 1 a.m. this morning
• will have a stealth vote on Christmas eve
• is being written behind closed doors
• has not been seen by anyone except Harry Reid's inner circle

CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY!

The U.S. Senate voted 1 a.m. Monday morning to close debate on the manager's amendment to the health bill, delivering a critical victory to Democrats who had worked furiously to hold together 60 votes for the bill's most significant vote yet.

Senators remained at their desks for the vote - a procedure reserved for only the most solemn occasions - to vote along strict party lines for cloture on the amendment, 60-40. The vote is generally considered a litmus test for securing the success of the bill in the remainder of Senate votes.

The cloture vote begins a series of votes that is expected to stretch until late Christmas Eve. Democrats are preparing for a prolongated battle with Republicans, who have sworn to use every tactic possible to delay the passage of a massive bill they say they have been allowed no say in crafting.

Nebraska Democrat Senator Ben Nelson, who had been the last major Democrat-caucusing holdout against the bill over its massive federal abortion funding, suddenly capitulated following Friday night negotiations, settling for a watered-down compromise that leaves the funding intact.

story here

Is Senator Nelson another Judas Iscariot?

Is Senator Ben Nelson another Judas Iscariot? There are many people who are feeling betrayed by Nelson these days, among them pro-life Nebraskans.

Via Julie - Schmitt-Albin, Executive Director of Nebraska Right to Life:

"Senator Nelson had a chance to ensure that the longstanding principle of the Hyde Amendment against federal funding of abortion with narrow exceptions, would be placed in the Senate healthcare legislation. He dashed any hope of that with his late-night agreement with Senators Reid, Boxer and Schumer on unacceptable language that he claimed would address pro-life concerns." said Julie Schmit-Albin, Executive Director of Nebraska Right to Life (NRL).

"Senator Nelson and his Chief of Staff, Tim Becker, called me last night at 7:30 p.m. Central time as a matter of 'courtesy', to let me know that he was pitching alternative language to Democratic leadership. We spoke for about 40 minutes." said Schmit-Albin. "When I asked them at the outset of the conversation to include National Right to Life in the call they declined and said they were going with the language. Senator Nelson claimed that their newly-drafted concepts/language was Stupak-plus and that it would pass pro-life muster. When I countered that we had no assurance of that because we were not allowed to review the language, I was reminded that this was merely a courtesy call, not a call for our input or approval."

"There is no pro-life Nebraskan more devastated by Senator Nelson's actions than myself." said Schmit-Albin. "I have defended his record to Nebraskans and believed that he would stand on pro-life principles as he has on numerous occasions in the past. I have had a good relationship with Senator Nelson and his staff throughout the years . I personally met with him on healthcare in July and in mid-November and have been in frequent contact with his staff over the past six weeks. Just Wednesday afternoon, I was apprised of the Casey language by his staff and I urged them to strongly relay to him that we could not support it. When he rejected the Casey language we were bolstered by that action and believed he would hold firm to his commitment to vote against cloture if Stupak language was not included."

" Moreover, NRL Political Action Committee gave Senator Nelson a sole endorsement in his re-election race in 2006 based on his record and actions both as Governor and Senator." said Schmit-Albin. "It is a very sobering day for myself personally and for pro-lifers across Nebraska and the nation. Senator Nelson obliterated the hope of pro-life Americans who saw him as the last man standing between expansion of government funding of abortion and the Hyde Amendment."

"Nebraska Right to Life follows the lead of National Right to Life in opposing the passage of healthcare legislation containing such bogus abortion language and looks forward to NRLC 's scoring of all cloture votes on the issue." said Schmit-Albin.

Related Information:

Nelson's 11th hour call to NE Right to Life assured secreted compromise language was "Stupak-plus"

Sen. Nelson Sold Himself 

Ben Nelson caves on health care vote

Be Heard: Tell Senator Nelson what you think

Huckabee leads rally in Omaha to try to change Nelson's mind

 Via Omaha.com:

The health-care reform bill expected to win passage in the U.S. Senate is an attack on “liberty” in America, said Mike Huckabee, a former Republican presidential candidate from Arkansas.

Huckabee was the star of the show at an Omaha rally held Sunday against President Obama's health care initiative. He opposes the mandate in the bill that will require all Americans to have insurance.
Huckabee said in an interview prior to the rally that the bill requires Americans to “put their liberty in the hands of government.”

About 1,800 people packed the lower level of the Omaha Music Hall for the rally. Many of them said they came to show their disappointment with Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, who is providing Obama the crucial 60th vote to get the bill passed.

Watch the video clip of Huckabee's speech and read the entire article here.

It's never too late to pray for a Christmas miracle: Prayer for the unborn and the health care reform

O God our Father, we praise you for the work of your hands and for the precious gift of life. Grant your protection to those who are yet unborn. Inspire those who govern us to advance policies which protect the unborn child in the womb and preserve the conscience rights of all.

Jesus, Divine Healer, may our legislators find the courage to advance needed health care reform that protects the conscience rights of health care providers and does not promote or fund abortion.

Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of elected officials with the desire to save lives, not destroy them.
Father, we ask this through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Is Obama's $789 billion buying votes instead of jobs?

Studies show 'stimulus' spent on Democrats, not unemployment

A pair of studies analyzing U.S. jobs and the effects of President Obama's American Reinvestment and Recovery Act suggest the so-called "stimulus" bill has boosted partisan interests far more than employment figures.
White House projections in February claimed the $789 billion in spending would "create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years" and that over 90 percent of those jobs would be in the private sector.
One year into the two-year projections, however, the studies show that not only has the money failed thus far to deliver on either of those promises, but it also has been doled out disproportionately to districts with Democrat representation.
The first study, conducted by the Republicans of the House

Ways and Means Committee, compares the White House's projections to actual U.S. Department of Labor statistics on a state-by-state basis.
The numbers show that 49 of the 50 states have actually lost jobs since the stimulus was passed in February, and that the only state to gain jobs, North Dakota, still has more than halfway to go to meet White House projections.
And while calculating how many jobs the stimulus package has "saved" is highly contentious (the administration estimates it has created 640,000 jobs), the Republicans compare the promised 3.5 million jobs the stimulus package was supposed to boost to the net 2.6 million jobs the U.S. has lost since the ARRA was passed.


Read the rest here. 

Isn't it interesting how our taxes are being spent on motivating the Democrats to pass Obama death care, rather than to create jobs?

Ben Nelson gives in, becomes #60

cross-posted from A Catholic View

Its amazing that we didn't have enough Senators with the spine to stand up for babies.

Senator Ben Nelson announced today that he will become the crucial 60th vote that Democrats need to pass a government-run health care bill. Nelson has been holding out because of the massive abortion funding in the bill, but said today he will give the measure his support.

Nelson outlined his support for the government-run health care bill in a press conference Saturday morning after he reached a deal with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on abortion and other unrelated issues.

Under the compromise, Nelson said it prohibits abortion funding in a way that earns his vote.

"We have an agreement that the plan with not use federal dollars to fund abortions," he said. "I believe we have accomplished that goal. It's clear I wouldn't have voted for this bill without these conditions."

The compromise Nelson agreed to with Reid makes it so states could disallow abortion coverage in the new health insurance exchanges.

story here

Health Care Alert: Don't Give Up!

I just received the following message from Mike Hukabee and feel that it's important to pass on to you.

The Democrats continue to push their health care scheme. They continue to craft a bill in secret, behind closed doors, while telling the rest of the Senate and the American people that they will pass a bill before Christmas.

It's not too late!!   Don't give up the fight. The Senators listed below are important to the Democrat's chances of success. Call them now!  Tell them to vote against the secret health care bill!  Tell them not to invoke cloture!  And while you are at it, remind them that the American people are paying attention and watching. If Congress doesn't heed the words of the people now, they surely will come November!

Call:

Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas               202-224-4843         202-224-4843
Ben Nelson, Nebraska               202-224-6551         202-224-6551
Olympia Snowe, Maine               202-224-5344         202-224-5344