The Stupak Executive Order: "Stumbles and Fumbles"

Maybe the name Bart Stupak will ring some bells. The Hill, March 23, 2010:

Obama will sign Stupak executive order...

President Barack Obama Wednesday will put his signature on an executive order regarding the new healthcare law that was part of a deal designed to encourage anti-abortion rights Democrats to back the bill. 

.... The order was the result of a deal Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) struck with the White House Sunday only hours before a vote was taken on the Senate's healthcare overhaul.

Before that, Stupak and his bloc of anti-abortion rights Democrats withheld their support for the bill because they believed it would allow federal dollars to pay for health insurance plans that included abortion services. Democratic leaders had maintained all along that the Senate bill would not let federal funds pay for abortion services. But they struck a deal with Stupak in order to corral the votes they needed and without Stupak's bloc, they did not have. By signing the order, Obama will uphold his end of that agreement. 

Republicans decried the executive order, saying it lacked the teeth to ensure that the Hyde Amendment, a law that prohibits federal funds for abortions, is upheld. ...

 

Unlike the healthcare bill signing that was held in front of a swath of lawmakers, television cameras and other media Tuesday, the order signing is closed to the press. But 14 anti-abortion rights Democrats who supported the healthcare bill have been invited to the signing.

Here is a list of them:

Sen. Bob Casey (Pa.)
Rep. Bart Stupak (Mich.)
Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (Pa.)
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio)
Rep. Nick Rahall (W.Va.)
Rep. Jerry Costello (Ill.)
Rep. Chris Carney (Pa.)
Rep. Steve Driehaus (Ohio)
Rep. Charlie Wilson (Ohio)
Rep. Jim Oberstar (Minn.)
Rep. Alan Mollohan (W.Va.)
Rep. Brad Ellsworth (Ind.)
Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas)
Rep. Mike Doyle (Pa.)

 

TODAY, at The Hill:

Former Rep. Stupak says Obama has power to stop birth-control mandate

The former Democratic lawmaker who led the charge for tougher abortion restrictions in the healthcare reform law says President Obama's executive order gives him the authority to revisit the controversial birth-control mandate.

"You can rely upon the executive order for the authority to fix it," former Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) told Fox News on Wednesday night. "New protections prohibit discrimination in healthcare facilities and healthcare providers because of an unwillingness to provide — pay for — provide coverage of or refer for abortion. So I think we can include in there [the birth-control mandate]."

The order states that "Under the act, longstanding federal laws to protect conscience … remain intact and new protections prohibit discrimination against healthcare facilities and healthcare providers because of an unwillingness to provide, pay for, provide coverage of or refer for abortions."

Stupak said the order should apply to contraceptives as well.

 "You're destroying an embryo, you're taking a life," he said. "Therefore, I'm not in favor of that, nor [is] the Catholic Church."

Stupak went on to say he was "disappointed" with the administration's mandate.

"As you're putting together and implementing major legislation, there's going to be stumbles and fumbles along the way, and this is one," he said. "And I think it can be corrected, and I hope we can get the matter resolved short of further action by Congress or — the president should just sit down, let's work this thing out. We can do it. We've done it before, we can do it again."

Obama signed the executive order in March 2010, just hours before the House passed the Senate healthcare reform bill as part of a deal to get Stupak and other Democrats opposed to abortion rights to vote for it....

 

Text of the Executive Order can be found at http://www­­.scribd.c­o­m/Zimvi/­d/­2871436­9-E­xecuti­ve-O­rder-­March­-21s­t-2010

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

Stumble? Fumble? Only an utter naif would buy that. Stumbles and fumbles are accidental. The HHS ukase is a deliberate exercise of raw power and unbridled leftist ideology. This is the most blatant -- and flagrant -- exertion of the we-know-better-than-you-do mentality that powers this administration. The stumble-and-fumble characterization is as phony as Obama's incessant insistence that he respects the Constituiton. Former Congressman Stupak -- who sold his pro-life birthright for a mess of pottage when he caved just before the Obamacare vote -- would be well advised to maintain a discreet silence on this matter. He's one of the people who got us into this pickle in the first place.

[Tom Glennon]

Movie Mogul Samuel Goldwyn once famously said "An oral contract isn't worth the paper it's written on." Mr. Obama has shown that the same holds true of executive orders that he has signed.