Ben Nelson Flip-Flops Again, Backs Reconciliation for Pro-Abortion Health Care
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 27, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson has flip-flopped again — this time saying that he can back the controversial reconciliation process that the Senate may use to railroad the pro-abortion health care bill through the chamber. Nelson first flip-flopped on abortion funding.
Nelson drew the ire of the pro-life movement when he changed his mind on supporting a firm ban on all abortion funding under the bill and compromised with Harry Reid to force some taxpayers to fund abortions.
He eventually supported a bill that pro-life groups say has several abortion-related concerns in addition to taxpayer funding of abortions.
With the House not having the votes to get the Senate bill through its chamber, Democrats say they are looking at approving a revised version of the bill through the House and using reconciliation to pass the changes — which won’t include backtracking on abortion funding — in the Senate.
After saying yesterday that Democrats should abandon their efforts to get the bill through Congress, Nelson now says he can support reconciliation as long as he supports the underlying bill.
"I’ve been asked about whether I’d support using the process known as reconciliation now. So, I want to make it clear: If I support a bill, then I will vote for it regardless of whether it takes 50 votes to pass or 60 votes to pass. My position doesn’t change just because the House or Senate decides to change the process," Nelson said, according to Politico.
"Whether it required 50 votes or 60 votes, the process used didn’t change the substance," he said of his past support for using reconciliation.
Nelson also said he hopes pro-abortion President Barack Obama will lay out his plan for getting the health care bill through Congress.
His comments drew immediate criticism from Republican lawmakers.
The pointed out how he said in December that he decided to vote for the Senate health care bill in part because he didn’t want the Senate to use the reconciliation process to approve it.
Last Summer, Nelson told the Omaha World Herald newspaper, "that he would vote against using a tactic called reconciliation to push through a health care bill."
In march, Nelson called reconciliation a "deal breaker."
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