NRL News
Page 1
January 2011
Volume 38
Issue 1

Pro-Life Lawmakers Take Over Key Positions in House,
But Face Obstacles in Pro-abortion Senate and White House

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 6, 2011) – The 112th Congress has convened with pro-life forces in a substantially stronger position than during the first two years of President Obama’s term – but with adversaries still firmly in control of many key centers of federal policymaking power.

On January 5, pro-life Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) was sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives, ending the four-year speakership of pro-abortion Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.). Boehner and pro-life House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) will lead a House in which Republicans will hold a 242-193 seat majority – a shift of 63 seats to the Republicans. All but a handful of the newly elected Republicans are pro-life.

The November election also resulted in modest changes in the Senate. The Democrats remain in control, under the direction of pro-abortion Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nv.), but the election reduced the Democrat majority from 59-41 to 53-47. While Reid will retain the power to largely set the agenda for the Senate, the diminished Democrat majority will strengthen the ability of Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to block legislation objectionable to most Republicans – since it usually takes 60 votes to win adoption of a controversial bill, motion, or nomination in the Senate.

The new House Republican leadership promptly announced that the first major bill it will bring to the House floor will be a measure to completely repeal the far-reaching health care bill enacted in March 2010. At NRL News deadline, the repeal bill H.R. 2, introduced by Cantor, was scheduled for a House floor vote on January 12.

In a January 6 letter to House members, NRLC expressed strong support for the repeal bill, and informed lawmakers that the roll call on the measure will be included in the NRLC scorecard of key roll calls of the new Congress.

The letter noted that the 2010 health care law “contains multiple provisions authorizing federal subsidies for abortion, and additional provisions on which future abortion-expanding regulatory mandates may be based. . . . In addition, the PPACA contains multiple provisions that will, if fully implemented, result in government-imposed rationing of lifesaving medical care. . . . The law is so riddled with provisions that violate right-to-life principles that it cannot simply be patched. It must be repealed, and any replacement legislation must contain all necessary safeguards for the right to life of the most vulnerable members of the human family.”

(The entire NRLC letter supporting H.R. 2 is posted on the NRLC website at http://www.nrlc.org/AHC/NRLCLetteronHR2.html. For additional information on the pro-rationing aspects of the health care law, see the story that appears on page one of this issue.)

While H.R. 2 is expected to pass the House, no one thinks that it will garner the required 60 votes in the Senate – and even if it did, President Obama would undoubtedly employ his veto power to defend his 2010 health care law.

Given these realities, Republican leaders have indicated that they will follow H.R. 2 with a series of narrower legislative attacks on specific components of the health care law.

One such proposal, the “Protect Life Act,” will soon be reintroduced by pro-life Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.). This bill, which is backed by NRLC and other pro-life groups, would prohibit pro-abortion subsidies and mandates in every component of the massive 2010 health care law. In content, it is very similar to the “Stupak-Pitts Amendment” which NRLC pushed during the 2009-2010 debate over health care legislation – an amendment that ultimately was blocked by opposition from President Obama and the congressional Democratic leadership.

Pitts is now well situated to advance the Protect Life Act – he has been appointed as chairman of the Health Subcommittee of the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the panel with direct jurisdiction over most federal health programs. Pitts has extensive experience in health policy issues, having served as a member of both the full committee and the subcommittee for ten years. He has also chaired the Values Action Team, an unofficial but influential caucus of House members concerned with pro-life and pro-family issues.

In a November 18 letter to key House Republican leaders, NRLC had urged that Pitts be appointed to the Health Subcommittee chairmanship, noting that he “has made the protection of the sanctity of innocent human life the cornerstone of his service in the House.” In response, NARAL President Nancy Keenan issued a press release charging that NRLC “wants its hand-picked extremist in charge of [the] panel that oversees women’s health programs,” an appointment she said would be “ridiculous.”

Following the official announcement that Pitts would chair the panel, Laurie Rubiner, vice president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told a New York Times reporter that Pitts was “as anti-choice as a member of Congress can be.”

In a December 7 release welcoming the appointment, Pitts said, “We need to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something better. We need to protect human life from the unborn to the elderly.”

In addition to the Pitts bill, a complementary, broader reform bill is being advanced by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ). Smith’s bill, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, would establish a permanent, government-wide ban on federal subsidies for abortion, with narrow exceptions. The bill would supersede a patchwork of different laws limiting federal subsidies for abortion, many of which must be renewed each year because they are incorporated into annual appropriations bills.

The bill is a major priority for NRLC, and was included in the pre-election “Pledge to America,” an outline of priorities released by the House Republican leadership.

Smith, a 30-year House veteran, co-chairs the Bipartisan Pro-Life Caucus in the House, and is recognized by all as the leader of pro-life forces in the chamber. In a December 8 release, the Caucus announced that Rep. Dan Lipinski, Democrat of Illinois, will serve as co-chairman for the new Congress.

Smith also has been awarded an important new post: He will chair a Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee with jurisdiction over global health issues and human rights issues.

The new chairman of the full Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl.), also has a strong pro-life record. Ros-Lehtinen announced Smith’s subcommittee chairmanship in a December 21 press release.

Smith told NRL News that his goal as subcommittee chairman would be “to promote a consistent culture of life in all aspects of U.S. foreign policy and international healthcare funding.” He added, “Tragically, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have misused taxpayer funds to aggressively export abortion around the world. It is time to investigate, expose, and end this complicity with procuring death to children and harm to their mothers.”

Following the November election, Jane Roberts, who heads an organization that advocates U.S. funding for the pro-abortion United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), wrote that if Smith were appointed to chair this particular subcommittee, “our worst nightmare will be realized.”

Lawmakers with strong pro-life records will also chair other key House committees with jurisdiction over pro-life issues, including Lamar Smith (R-Tx), who will chair the House Judiciary Committee, and Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), who will chair the House Appropriations Committee.

Pro-abortion Democrats will retain control of key Senate committees.

For up-to-date information on pro-life issues in Congress, make frequent visits to the NRLC Legislative Action Center at http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/home/