Democrats in Congress have selected one lawmakers to head up their side on an important committee based on one criteria — who is more pro-abortion.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, who has cast a some pro-life votes but takes a pro-abortion position, is the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee and would normally be in line to take over as the ranking Democrat of the panel. However, House Democrats passed her over because of those votes and placed a more strongly pro-abortion member as its number one Democrat on the committee because she is solidly pro-abortion.
“Going by seniority, Kaptur would have ascended to the top spot on the panel, which she has served on for 22 years. But she had a couple of limiting factors: She is a consistent opponent of expanding abortion rights and in the past has had a rocky relationship with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif,” a news report says.
Kaptur’s voting record includes casting 42 pro-life votes out of a total of 96 votes on which she has cast votes on pro-life issues, according to the National Right to Life Committee. Kaptur is not pro-life and, in fact, has appeared to endorse abortion more in recent years — compiling just an 11% pro-life rating from NRLC during 2012.
But Nita Lowey, the New York congressman who will get the plum committee assignment as the top Democrat over Kaptur, is a pro-abortion banner-carrier. She frequently promotes amendments to bills to push abortion and abortion-funding. In 100 votes on pro-life issues, Lowey voted pro-life just once (on assisted suicide, not abortion).
Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner says he is not surprised Democrats would pick Lowey over Kaptur.
“This fits perfectly with what we already know about the Democratic Party: support for legal and subsidized abortion is nearly their only litmus test. They’ll give the Homeland Security chairmanship to the most hawkish, pro-war member of their caucus who actually left the party (Joe Lieberman). They’ll give the Banking Committee ranking membership to Maxine Waters. But God forbid a pro-lifer gets a top-tier ranking-member slot on a committee that doesn’t have jurisdiction over abortion,” he said.
He said Lowey’s wining the ranking position points to the financial link between Democrats and pro-abortion groups — as Lowey is one of the parties top fundraisers thanks to her connection with the abortion lobby.
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“The Democrats typically fill their top fundraising posts with the most vociferous defenders of legal abortion and Planned Parenthood subsidies. For example, Obama tapped ardently pro-choice congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Richards, of Planned Parenthood, has publicly lauded Wasserman-Schultz as a “heroine” of the cause,” he wrote. “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, during the spring budget debates, deployed congresswoman Diana DeGette, co-chairwoman of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, to raise $100,000 in a night on the issue of taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.”
The move is also not surprising given that the DNC rejected including pro-life Democrats in its platform this year.
