Bart Stupak says the healthcare reform bill will “go down in flames” unless changes are made

  The House version of the healthcare reform bill that passed by a 220-215 vote earlier this year was passed only after Bart Stupak and his coalition of 40 pro-life Democrats were able to insert an amendment that would prohibit the federal funding of abortion. Without this amendment the House version of the bill would have failed and we wouldn’t still be debating this issue. The Senate version of the healthcare reform bill had the Stupak amendment stripped from it, paving the way for the federal funding of abortion.

  Barack Obama said on Wednesday that the time for debate is over and it is time to give an up or down vote on the Senate version of the healthcare reform bill, threatening to use reconciliation to pass the bill with a simple majority. The House is being urged to vote on the Senate bill.

  Much like the fate of the healthcare reform bill hinged on Bart Stupak and his 40 Blue Dog Democrats in the original bill, it appears as if the fate of the healthcare reform bill once again hinges on Bart Stupak and the Blue Dog, pro-life Democrats that almost defeated this bill a few short months ago.

  Bart Stupak has refuted House leader  Steny Hoyer assertion that the senate version of the bill prohibits the federal funding of abortion.

The congressman does not agree with Mr. Hoyer’s statement that the Senate bill language and the House bill language achieve the same end with regard to federal funding of abortion

  Currently Bart Stupak has at least 12 other pro-life, Blue Dog Democrats who have promised to vote against the bill if the Stupak amendment is not inserted into the bill. Without the votes of these Democrats the bill is doomed to fail in the House, handing Barack Obama what will possibly be his most embarrassing defeat to date. Bart Stupak has even gone so far as to state that the healthcare reform bill will “go down in flames” if the House is forced to vote on it in its current state, claiming that the abortion language in the Senate bill is unacceptable.

  The battle lines are being drawn, and while most of the attention is being paid to the Senate and the possibility that reconciliation will almost assuredly guarantee passage in the Senate, the true battle lies in the House where their version of the bill just barely passed. It seems almost inevitable that if the Senate bill remains unchanged and the House has to vote on this version of the bill, it will fail.

   But what will happen in the Senate if the Stupak amendment is added? The Stupak amendment had to be stripped from the Senate version of the bill in order to gain the 60 votes needed, with the Stupak amendment added, will the Senate still be able to get 51 votes or will it fail in the Senate if the amendment is added? There are still no guarantees that the healthcare reform bill can pass even if reconciliation is used.

  It seems to me that the only chance this bill has of passing is if the Stupak amendment  is added back into the Senate version of the bill, I am not sure Barack Obama and the far left is going to be open to that possibility.

  This battle is far from over and once again Bart Stupak and the Blue Dog Democrats are taking center stage. The question is, will they stick to their stated beliefs because they believe they are right, or will they listen to Barack Obama and risk losing their seats because Barack Obama has told them  that is what is right?

  Right now the only thing that is certain about this bill’s future is that nothing is certain. Even with reconciliation the Democrats may be too divided to pass this bill.

  Bart Stupak, the eyes of the nation are upon you.