Joe Biden has given “pro-life” Democrat Senator Joe Manchin’s wife a cushy job in his administration after the West Virginia senator voted for the COVID relief bill that contains the biggest expansion of abortion funding in a decade.
Two pro-life Democrat senators voted yes on the COVID-19 relief bill even though it will force taxpayers to pay for the killing of unborn babies in abortions. Sens. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, and Bob Casey Jr., of Pennsylvania, ultimately voted with their party to pass the overall spending package. They sold out the pro-life movement because the bill contains hundreds of millions of dollars that can be used to fund abortions and the Planned Parenthood abortion corporation.
Now, as a reward for his vote, Joe Biden intends to appoint Manchin’s wife to a plum federal position that pays upwards of $160,000 annually. As the Washington Times reports:
The White House announced on Friday it would nominate Gayle Connelly Manchin, a former president of the West Virginia state board of education, to serve as federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission.
The organization is responsible for spurring economic development and investment in the 13 states that make up the region of Appalachia — which spans from northern Mississippi to Pennsylvania.
If confirmed by the Senate, Mrs. Manchin is slated to replace Tim Thomas, a former staffer for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The role comes with a salary of approximately $163,000 annually, according to a federal pay database.
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Mrs. Manchin’s nomination comes as her husband has become a vital political player in Washington, D.C.
Despite Mr. Biden’s party controls both Congress and the executive branch, their hold on the Senate is tenuous at best. The upper chamber is split 50-50 between both parties, with Democrats only holding the majority thanks to the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Manchin describes himself as pro-life but came under heavy criticism from pro-life groups after he voted for the abortion-funding measure.
Penny Young Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, noticed the betrayal and condemned it in an email to LifeNews.com.
“Democrat Senators Joe Manchin, Bob Casey, and Tim Kaine voted for an amendment to restore the Hyde Amendment protections to prevent any of the $1.9 trillion from paying for abortion on demand. The amendment failed to reach the sixty votes needed for passage. These same members then voted for passage of the final bill, willing to allow billions of dollars in new Obamacare funding to pay for an abortion for any reason,” she said.
“Sens. Manchin, Casey, and Kaine care more about $1,400 checks in the mail than the billions of dollars that can now be spent to destroy innocent pre-born babies. Shame on them and the entire Democrat party,” Nance said.
The “American Rescue Plan” is described as the the largest expansion of abortion funding since Obamacare.
The Senate voted 50-49 for the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, which spends only about 9 percent on COVID relief. Meanwhile, tens of millions of dollars, perhaps more, could fund the killing of unborn babies in abortions and the billion-dollar abortion chain Planned Parenthood. Every Senate Republican, except for Sen. Dan Sullivan, of Alaska, who did not vote, voted against the bill while every Democrat voted for it.
The $350 billion state bailout funds are particularly problematic because the bill does not prevent states and localities from using taxpayer funds to pay for abortions. Under the current guidelines, liberal states like New York and California can funnel millions to abortion giants like Planned Parenthood if they choose.
The pro-life group SBA List wrote to lawmakers ahead of the vote urging them to adopt pro-life amendments to curb abortion funding.
“While prior bipartisan COVID relief packages have included Hyde [Amendment] protections on funding streams that fall outside of existing limits on abortion funding, this bill departs from the status quo by leaving funds open to use for abortion. COVID relief money should be used for life-affirming purposes… we strongly support and will score in favor of amendments to mitigate the funding of abortion, abortion coverage, or abortion providers,” the pro-life group wrote.
The Hyde Amendment prohibits taxpayer funding for most abortions in Medicaid and other federal programs. Until recently, it received strong bipartisan support in Congress, and still has the support of most Americans.
Fortunately one of the abortion funding provisions was removed from the bill prior to the vote. Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, forced Democrats to remove a pro-abortion provision that would have allowed Planned Parenthood abortion facilities to receive free money through the Paycheck Protection Program.
Polls consistently show most Americans do not want their tax dollars to pay for the killing of unborn babies in abortions, including many Democrat voters. These include recent polls from Marist and Harvard University/Politico. According to Marist, six in 10 Americans (60 percent) oppose taxpayer funding of abortion, while the Harvard poll found that 58 percent oppose it.
What’s more, research suggests low-income individuals do not want taxpayer-funded abortions. According to the Harvard/Politico poll, voters who make more than $75,000 were more supportive of ending the Hyde Amendment (45 percent in favor), while those who make $25,000 or less were strongly against it (24 percent in favor). In other words, the people most likely to qualify for a Medicaid-covered, taxpayer-funded abortion do not want it.
The Hyde Amendment has been in place since 1976 and, until recently, had strong bipartisan support in Congress. It has saved an estimated 2.4 million babies from abortions, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
