The health care bill that emerged from the Senate Finance Committee this week will not pass the Senate in its current form if Democrat leadership comply with procedural rules, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) told conservative bloggers on a conference call this morning. However, he expects the Democrats to abuse the reconciliation process to get the legislation through. Hatch’s extensive remarks were pointed and sharply critical of the Senate Democrats’ health care plan and the “shell game” he says they played in creating and passing the bill out of the Senate …
During the debate on the Senate health care reform bill this week, Senator Hatch (R-UT) offered an amendment to reinstate funding for Title V Abstinence Education. Funding for this program ended in June. The Hatch amendment would restore the $50 million program. A similar amendment by Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE), however, suffered defeat during the House Committee mark up, and House Democrats inserted an amendment that would transfer the Title V money to state block grants to further promote comprehensive sexuality education. Policymakers should continue to fund abstinence education and …
