A Pennsylvanian reports: “Senator Casey’s voicemailbox was full when I called on Saturday afternoon.” He certainly deserves an earful.
The Catholic bishops aren’t accepting the Reid language either: WASHINGTON–The Senate health reform bill should not move forward in its current form, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, and Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City said December 19, as senators proceeded closer to a vote. Cardinal DiNardo chairs the bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities. Bishop Murphy chairs the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. Bishop Wester chairs the bishops’ Committee on Migration. “Yesterday the bishops commented on good-faith efforts by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) to improve the pending Senate health care reform bill on the issues of abortion and conscience rights,” Cardinal DiNardo, Bishop Murphy and Bishop Wester said. “Today a Manager’s Amendment was proposed to make final changes in that bill. The amendment includes some improvements from Senator Casey’s proposal, including adoption tax credits and assistance for pregnant women, but differs from that proposal in other ways: It does not seem to allow purchasers who exercise freedom of choice or of conscience to “opt out” of abortion coverage in federally subsidized health plans that include such coverage.
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum tells National Review Online that Sen. Bob Casey’s brokering of a potential compromise on the Senate health-care bill’s abortion language is a “betrayal” to the pro-life cause. Casey, the Democrat who defeated Santorum in 2006, has been negotiating the bill’s abortion language in recent days with Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.), a key undecided vote in the Democratic caucus. According to the Washington Post , Casey “proposed a compromise that would more clearly segregate public and private funds in the new insurance exchanges for individuals who do not have access to affordable coverage through an employer,” as well as create “a temporary $1,000 increase in the tax credit for adoptive parents and a new federal fund to assist teenagers, college students or victims of domestic violence who are pregnant and without resources.” Nelson told a radio station in his home state on Thursday that Casey’s outreach “isn’t sufficient” and that “the basic question about the funding of abortion has not been answered yet.” “The premise of these negotiations is to get Nelson language that will provide him cover without doing anything to protect babies,” says Santorum. “Bob Casey Sr. built up great will in the pro-life community. Now his son is using his name to give cover to a bill that does great harm the pro-life cause.