House Republicans have added a measure aimed at limiting contraceptive coverage to the spending bill coming up for a vote Saturday night, a spokesman for Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kansas, told CNN.
A senior House leadership aide confirmed that development.
The so-called “conscience clause” would allow employers and insurers to opt out of preventative care for women which they find objectionable on moral or religious grounds. That prominently includes birth control, which most insurers are required to provide for free under current Obamacare rules.
With this move, House Republican leaders would give any employer or group health plan the ability to opt out of contraception coverage for the next year. That time frame syncs up with the larger measure in which this is included: a one-year delay of Obamacare provisions not yet in effect.
“This is a big deal for the congressman,” Huelskamp’s spokesman, Paul Nelson, told CNN. “He has been pushing for (the conscience clause) since he entered Congress.”
Democrats say the measure is unnecessary because the administration has granted exemptions to contraceptive coverage to religious nonprofit institutions. But advocates, such as Huelskamp, insist that all institutions should be able to opt out of any preventative coverage for women that they find objectionable.
Three observations:
One: this is a new demand added in the last 24 hours. Republicans are not moving towards compromise, they are adding new demands. Let's stop pretending there's any way to avoid a shutdown, and that it's anything but 100% the GOP's fault.
Two: Republicans continue to try to punish groups that voted for Obama. They want women, minorities, working poor, the unemployed, the elderly on fixed incomes, and students to suffer as much as possible so that they don't vote in 2014.
Three: Republicans are misogynist bastards. They honestly believe women should spend their lives pregnant and subservient. A woman who wants birth control or an abortion is madness to them. This isn't about saving money or preventing unwanted pregnancies, or even about lowering the number of abortions. This is about putting women "in their place", period.
As Zandardad told me this morning, Republicans fully expect Obama to cave. They are going to be very, very surprised when he doesn't.
As Zandardad told me this morning, Republicans fully expect Obama to cave. They are going to be very, very surprised when he doesn't.
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