House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to unveil a health care plan Thursday morning that could be up for a vote on the House floor next week.
Rep. Bart Stupak (D.-Michigan) said Speaker Pelosi is not pleased with his effort to remove abortion from being funded through healthcare reform. “I’m comfortable with where I’m at,” he said on CSPAN. “This is who I am. It’s reflective of my district. If it costs me my seat, so be it.”
Christianity Todayposted an article last week that outlined how the issue is dividing Democrats. Focus on the Family Action is spending $400,000 to fight President Obama’s health care proposals, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
Update: Stupak says in a video released today by the Heritage Foundation blog that he would probably still vote for the health care at the end of the day.
“I offered an amendment that says no public funding for abortion; that’s been the law of the land for many many decades, and we lose that vote. Let’s say we lose that vote–we need 218 to win–let’s say we get 217, and we lose. Would I vote against health care? If I had a chance to vote my conscience on it, I probably would not. I probably would still vote for the health care bill at the end of the day.”
A man in the audience voiced his concern before Stupak defended his position again.
“If everything I want [is] in the final bill, I like everything in the bill except you have public funding for abortion, and we had a chance to run our amendment and we lost. OK, I voted my conscience, stayed true to my principles, stayed true to the beliefs of this district, could I vote for healthcare? Yes I still could.”
In other news:
–President Obama signed the hate crimes legislation “to help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray, or who they are.”
– Former President Bush Former President George W. Bush mentioned his faith when spoke to about 11,000 people at a “Get Motivated” business seminar Monday.
“I don’t see how you can be president without relying on the Almighty. Now when I was 21, I wouldn’t have told you that, but at age 63, I can tell you that one of the most amazing surprises of the presidency was the fact that people’s prayers affected me. I can’t prove it to you. But I can tell you some days were great, some days not so great. But every day was joyous.”
– A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll suggests that 71 percent of Americans believe 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president, with 29 percent saying she has the credentials. Palin was paid $1.25 million while governor in advance of her upcoming memoir. According to the Anchorage Daily News, Palin received $1,664 worth of airfare from Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse to deliver food aid to western Alaska villages last spring.
–A judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s regulations for embryonic stem-cell research funding. Nightlight Christian Adoptions contended in a lawsuit that the guidelines will decrease the number of human embryos available for adoption, which U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said is speculative.
–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the Obama administration’s opposition to anti-defamation policies because they would limit free speech. Clinton made her remarks while releasing the State Department’s annual report on international religious freedom.
