Stupak’s stand
Bart Stupak, Democratic representative from Michigan, has been single-handedly holding up health care legislation. The question is why? This has nothing to do with integrity. It has nothing to do with standing up for his beliefs. Instead, I think this has everything to do with ego. As a representative, he has been mostly ignored by the national media. (I have no idea how well he has received in his home state of Michigan.) He has not sponsored legislation of any significance. He is on the Energy and Commerce Committee. During his eight terms in Congress, I know of no significant legislation that he is sponsored. Now, he can grab the spotlight and maybe, just maybe, it will propel him into the Governor’s mansion.
Rachel Maddow may have an idea:
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Political Animal has more:
Arguably the single biggest threat to health care reform is Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and his dozen Democratic allies, who are threatening to kill the legislation over indirect, circuitous funding of abortion.
Efforts to work with Stupak are ongoing, but it’s worth emphasizing a relevant detail: Stupak is just wrong about the underlying policy dispute. Whether he knows he’s wrong, and he’s just hoping to kill health care reform, is unclear. But the accuracy of Stupak’s claims aren’t in dispute: the facts aren’t on his side.
ABC News did a nice job fact-checking Stupak’s argument this week, and Slate’s Tim Noah (a Monthly alum) published the definitive takedown a couple of days ago, explaining that some areas of the debate are open to interpretation and debate, but this isn’t one of them: “Stupak happens to be wrong.”
Ideally, this would be enough. Democratic leaders would explain the truth to Stupak and his allies, making the case on the merits — the Senate compromise language, endorsed by center-right Dems who oppose abortion rights, already does what Stupak & Co. want, which is to prevent public funding of abortion.
