Enzi: Federal Dollars Shouldn’t Pay for Abortion

Washington, D.C. – The Senate must approve the bipartisan Hatch-Nelson amendment to prevent federal dollars from being used to pay for abortions under the Reid health care bill, U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) said on the Senate floor today.

“The Reid bill breaks the President’s promises and forces American taxpayers to pay for abortions,” Enzi said. “Supporters of the Reid bill use budget gimmicks to argue that it won’t cover abortion, but as the Senate’s only accountant I’m not going to be fooled and neither should anyone else. If the Reid bill passes, federal dollars will be used to pay for abortions.

“If we truly want to protect taxpayers and prevent federal dollars from paying for abortion, we must adopt the Nelson-Hatch amendment. This isn’t a partisan issue, this is a human issue.”

On September 9, President Obama told a joint session of Congress, “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” However, the Reid bill gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services the authority to mandate and fund abortions through the government-run plan. It also allows individuals to use taxpayer subsidies to purchase plans that cover abortion.

Video of Enzi’s statement is available here.

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U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) CommitteeCOMMITTEE WEBSITE | SENATOR ENZI’S OFFICE