Some rare good news in the Senate:
Sen. Olympia Snowe, the Maine Republican who this week said she would not run for reelection, joined nearly all Democrats in a 51-48 vote to dispense of the amendment, which would have allowed employers to decline to cover certain health benefits that conflict with their religious beliefs.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted for the proposed amendment to the Senate transportation bill, saying the Obama administration did not respond to her concerns about whether self-insured health plans of faith-based organizations would be exempt from the contraception coverage mandate. So did Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who this week questioned why Republicans were voting on the proposal now.
Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania joined Republicans in support of the amendment.
Afterwards, Blunt said the vote went “just as he expected it to go.”
“I’m pleased it was bipartisan; I’m pleased that three Democrats were supportive. It’s a matter of conscience, people have to do what they have to do on something like this,” he said.
“I’m confident this issue is not over and won’t be over until the administration figures out how to accommodate people’s religious views as it relates to these new mandates,” Blunt said.
I honestly don’t know what the Manchin team is thinking. I have no idea what polls they must be reading, or what strategy they think they are following. This was a radical, radical amendment, and I have no idea why Manchin would support this.
Liz
Why would anyone with half a brain support this horrible bill? This actually scares me, folks. And I don’t scare easily. Every election cycle the war on women revs up again, and some day, it’s gonna stick.
The Ancient Randonneur
Ben Nelson is retiring so somebody has to take his place.
shortstop
Is it possible Joe Manchin is just stone stupid and surrounds himself with people who let him be?
DougMN
A dim-witted Senator with dim-witted staff members?
c u n d gulag
It looks like Manchin’s the new Traitor-Joe now that Lieberman’s leaving.
Keith G
Over the past few days there has been much speculation about why Snowe was retiring. I think this puts a very nice button on it. she was just tired of dealing with the crackheads that are the modern g o p.
(another) Josh
Dunno about Machin. I always assumed Bobby Casey was a true believer, a hardcore prolifer Dem who can count on a lot of support from likeminded Pennsylvanians.
MattF
From the point of view of placating wingers, it was a twofer– kill Obamacare and shame sluts in the name of religious liberty. Hard to do better than that with a single vote.
PeakVT
He hired Bob Shrum or Mark Penn?
ReflectedSky
But Olympia Snowe has decided to go out with her head held high, apparently. Which is nice. (I’m in the mood to be cheerful, so I’m not going to think much about how an outgoing Senator with nothing to lose having the decency to vote against an incredibly reactionary amendment is actually news.)
Also, too, though, that is the current state of our government — scrapping together a bare majority to block the crazy.
Collins’ comment tells us where the next hill is on this particular battle. I hope Obama continues his refusal to engage over it.
cathyx
I think that any senator who is for this amendment is doing it because their donors want them to.
SenyorDave
The goal posts have moved since under Village rules both sides do it. Thus there really is no such thing as a radical bill.
cmorenc
@shortstop:
Well, West Virginia is the sort of place where Manchin could possibly be his own grandpa.
honus
Joe’s not stupid. Well, let me correct that; I never thought he was stupid until now.
Carnacki
Because Manchin is an idiot.
Here is his statement:
MANCHIN STATEMENT SUPPORTING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
Manchin to vote for ‘Respect Rights of Conscience Act’
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) issued the following statement announcing that he will vote in favor of a Senate measure to protect religious liberty. Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) offered the amendment to the transportation bill.
“When I was Governor of West Virginia, we achieved a commonsense balance between women’s access to medical care and free expression of religion. As this debate moves forward, I would hope that the President and this Congress look to West Virginia as a model,” Senator Manchin said. “While I would have preferred that both sides would have come together around a solution like we had in West Virginia, I am voting in favor of this measure to protect the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. Well-intentioned people on both sides of this issue can respectfully disagree, but for me this comes down to our religious liberties. I truly believe that we must safeguard Americans’ right to exercise their sincerely held religious views, and I support this measure to protect that freedom of conscience.”
Background on provisions to protect women’s health:
· The Blunt conscience amendment would not impact existing state laws. A West Virginia law enacted in 2005 by then-Gov. Manchin protects women’s access to contraceptive services while guaranteeing religious freedom for employers or institutions that object to such services. (H.B. 3138 http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB3138%20eng.htm&yr=2005&sesstype=RS&i=3138)
· West Virginia law also protects access and requires coverage for primary and preventative obstetrical and gynecological services, immunizations, mental health care, cervical cancer screenings, colorectal screenings, mammograms, mastectomies, and prostate cancer screenings.
· If an employer has a religious or moral objection to a type of coverage, the Blunt conscience measure affords them the same rights that they had before the Affordable Care Act to negotiate a plan with a health insurance company that meets their needs.
· The Blunt conscience amendment provides a legal remedy (called a private right of action) for employers and individuals who believe their First Amendment rights have been violated by the government. The federal courts are well equipped to identify false or illegitimate claims.
FormerSwingVoter
HA!
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/gop-struggles-to-contain-birth-control-fallout.php
Apparently, the Republicans were walking back the Blunt amendment, trying to find ways to moderate it as they get hammered in the polls over this (check out the latest faves/unfaves for Romney or Santorum among women). They knew they had painted themselves into a corner on this and were looking for some way to save face. They never filed the amendment.
So Harry Fucking Reid filed it, forcing the vote on it without any changes.
I had no clue Harry Reid had the stones for this sort of thing.
honus
@cmorenc: Where’s that guy who reamed me the other day for noting that Krystal Ball’s father was from West Virginia?
amk
fuck the dems who gave this punk a ‘bipartisan’ cover.
reflectionephemeral
The right has come untethered to reality. The center responds by trying to split the difference between the left and right; the objective policy content means nothing.
So, invading Iraq only after letting weapons inspectors in for a couple months, then forcing them to flee by starting to bomb, becomes the “sensible, centrist” position.
It’s like Solomon splitting the baby, except more people die.
Steve
I laugh at Blunt’s effort to cover himself by calling this vote “bipartisan.” No one on the planet is going to fall for that line.
FlipYrWhig
@Carnacki: Wait — isn’t he saying that he supports the amendment because in his view it doesn’t do anything?
ETA no, he’s actually saying that he supports the idea of letting employers claim that their freedom of religion is being encroached upon, and trusts that the courts will handle it fairly. I still don’t get how anyone can fall for this “religious liberty” bullshit that puts your employer’s precious conscience into a place superior to your own.
Violet
Is Manchin going to flip to being a Republican? Not just act like one, I mean. A real one.
Corner Stone
In how to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Coal?
Corner Stone
@Violet: Yes. R’s will take the Senate in 2012 and “Broken Glass Manchin” will switch to R.
Rosalita
still boggles the mind that they can claim religious liberty trumps female liberty health liberty… yeah I know, they don’t care, women must be controlled…
Jon
Cost-free. They knew it wouldn’t pass.
Joseph Nobles
@amk: I can’t stand that definition of “bipartisan.” To me, it’s not bipartisan if one party clearly wanted nothing to do with the bill. A couple of votes does not give the party name to a bill.
To my mind, you’d need at least a third of the other voting members of the party to call it bipartisan by any stretch of the imagination. Show me some actual philosophical tension over the bill, not just the usual suspects.
shortstop
@Violet: With that haircut, what choice does he have?
honus
@Violet: I doubt it. He’d be unelectable in West Virginia as a republican. What he doesn’t get is there’s a good chance he may be unelectable as a democrat after this.
Violet
@Corner Stone:
Sorry, what’s the “broken glass” part?
boss bitch
How many times do I have to say that Manchin is going to switch parties?
Violet
@honus:
Why would he be unelectable as a Republican in WV? Lose in a primary challenge?
wrb
I heard report this morning that at least half of the public is seeing it as a religious freedom issue, so might not be working out that badly for them.
quannlace
No, Mr. Blunt, there’s lots of times when you shouldn’t do something like this.
*****
And I love his trying to hide behind that ‘bipartisan’ nonsense. If it had been anything close to bipartisan, it would have passed.
amk
@Joseph Nobles: That didn’t stop the thug claiming exactly that. And tomorrow, the fucking fourth estate will just parrot his point.
Steeplejack
__
Easy answer, Senator: a national single-payer health insurance program. Then your religious entities and conscience-plagued business owners won’t be in the business of supplying health insurance and parsing which parts of it they don’t like.
NRH
So of the crossover votes, over half were from retiring Senators? Lieberman, Nelson, and Snowe all retiring, and then you have a pair of anti-choice Democrats who’re personally confident that they’re safe from being primaried. At least come next year, Snowe and Lieberman will be replaced with straight-up blue voters.
Corner Stone
@Violet: Just digging on Cole who proclaimed he’d “crawl over broken glass” to vote for Manchin. And it was used as a purity club to beat some people here, essentially.
Corner Stone
@honus: In what scenario would he be unelectable as an R?
And essentially he can run again as a D and then switch ala Jeffords. Which is what he will do.
Corner Stone
@Jon: If Reid let any version of this disgusting bill on the floor with a chance to reach the president’s desk then he should be run out of the D party.
Mike Lamb
@Steve: I would love to hear his response if someone suggested that the opposition was bipartisan.
Corner Stone
@NRH: Lieberman, yes. But Snowe? I’m still deeply sceptical on who will eventually take her seat.
Comrade Mary
@Steeplejack: But, you know, TAXES paid to government means that EVERYONE pays for sluts fucking everything that moves.
The goalposts? They are built to be moved.
And as much as I like a subset of Americans, there are days when I think we should build a massive wall around Canada with bears and sharks with freakin’ lasers on their heads.
TK-421
Because he’s an asshole.
Steve
@Corner Stone: I bow to your brilliance.
John PM
So then it appears that this Amendment was cock blocked…
Violet
@Corner Stone:
Oh, okay. I vaguely remember that now that you mention it.
makewi
Just one more win for Obama’s legacy of being the POTUS who closed all the Catholic hospitals and universities.
kindness
Well John, call your asshole Senator’s offices…all of them. Tell them exactly what you think and ask them to tell the ‘distinguished’ Senator.
FormerSwingVoter
@Corner Stone: TPM says it was Reid himself who filed the amendment – apparently the Republicans were spooked by the polling and never filed it so no one would be on the record voting for it.
EDIT: “Republicans” in this case being those of the Senate.
Mike Lamb
@makewi: From your lips to the Pope’s ears…if they take their ball and go home over this nontroversy, they clearly weren’t too interested in helping people.
And shouldn’t there be a Wall of Fame of governors who ended Catholic hospitals and unversities in the states where contraception coverage is already mandated? What’s that you say? None have closed down?
Corner Stone
@FormerSwingVoter: Yes, I was echoing Jon’s comment about knowing it wouldn’t pass.
Reid essentially flipped the bird to the R’s on this one, knowing the vote count.
shortstop
@makewi: And took the comforting little altar boys out of the rectories, and dumped the consecrated host all over the floor on purpose, and made fun of the pope’s hat, and burned and sacked all the churches a la Cromwell, forcing the flock of faithful to hold secret masses in bingo halls with lookouts watching for the jackbooted federal thugs who would crush every expression of faith. Oh, the sweet, sweet scent of imaginary martyrdom.
Comrade Mary
@Mike Lamb: And you know, it’s not the shrieking council of Bishops who run the hospitals and schools: it’s these people, who like the compromise.
Poor Bishops. Can’t fuck, can’t count, can only move diagonally. But they do have awesome vestments.
Oh, those are the BEST kind of masses! Smoking, junk food, the intoxicating scent of incense mixed with the vapours from the bingo daubers: lovely.
Steve
@Mike Lamb: I am not sure how stupid someone has to be to think that even a single Catholic university is going to close its doors over this. Pretty f’in stupid, I guess.
Corner Stone
@Comrade Mary:
Do you ever wonder why the chess piece for a bishop looks like a pen!s?
shortstop
@Corner Stone: Um. If your pen1s actually looks like a chess piece for any period, seek immediate medical attention.
makewi
@Steve:
Here. Boston Catholic charities got out of the adoption biz.
But whatevs right? I mean 1/7th of hospital beds going away is a good thing for Democrats and the poor. After all, child molestation!
shortstop
@makewi: Oh noes! Catholic Charities, which gets 2/3 of its funding from the government, was forced to stop working on adoptions because Massachusetts and DC wouldn’t stop saying gay people are human!
Stop making the church punish the poor, y’all. Have you learned nothing from all the women who force their husbands/boyfriends to beat them? Just look what you’re making people do!
pragmatism
i’m glad the blunt amendment was blocked. people don’t want to be limited to just regular old joints.
rikyrah
SO will not miss Nelson.
Manchin is a POS.
Chyron HR
@makewi:
The party of personal responsibility strikes again. Did Obama also make you call his mother a dog-fucker? Just curious.
makewi
@shortstop:
The church isn’t going to punish the poor. They just aren’t going to do anything.
But don’t worry. The people will know who to blame. And remember, child molestation!
pragmatism
@makewi: saw this yesterday:
a catholic priest, a rapist and a paedophile go into a bar. he orders a pint.
Mike Lamb
@makewi: BWAHAHAHAHA. That’s your “evidence”. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
makewi
@Chyron HR:
Personal responsibility? Sure that’s it exactly. They are just going to follow the lead of the atheists and simply do nothing. One would think you would celebrate that.
Oh. Did you want to have it both ways? Oops.
Corner Stone
@shortstop: Doesn’t it though? With that bulbous head and a little slit at the top?
I mean, not my pen!s of course. Just phallologically and shit.
Southern Beale
* SIGH *
I think you’ve said that, like, a hundred times already. Machin is one of those Democrats-in-name-only, and while that may sound partisan and overly simplistic it’s also fucking TRUE. He campaigned by shooting at the fucking cap-and-trade legislation. I mean, c’mon. His only usefulness, as far as I can see, is to maintain the symbolic “D” majority in the Senate so we at least maintain control of one branch of government.
And this is yet more reinforcement that in this day and age of fringe Republicans, if you claim you want “divided government,” just vote Democrat. Because the Dems truly do have their wildcard members, the Manchins and Ben Nelsons and Bob Caseys and the rest, the people who will stand up and holler PAY ATTENTION TO ME whereas all of that has been wrung out of the Republicans. The Republicans are lockstep in line behind the Tea Party extreme. If you want a government where some opposing views demand they be listened to, and compromise by necessity is hammered out, you have to look to the Democrats.
bootsy
@makewi: Right on brother! If those poor dicks want the help of holy geez to eat and not die from third-world diseases, the least they could do is take a little dick. And if they’re kids, all that means is that they have to talk to their parents before they file a lawsuit! And how are those poor dicks gonna pay for a lawyer?
It just keeps getting holier and holier!
Comrade Mary
@Corner Stone: I can’t remember seeing any real live prick with a little ball on its end and a deep gash cut into the head, and I hope I never do.
Looking here, I’d say the chess piece looked more like the world’s most unsanitary buttplug.
Corner Stone
@makewi:
Indeed. Systemic and sustained molestation of minors is certainly something to be easily discounted.
Rafer Janders
@makewi:
Yes, I just heard that Georgetown, Notre Dame, Boston College and Fordham announced they’re shutting down.* No way they can continue operations now.
*Not intended to be a factual statement.
Comrade Mary
@makewi:
Is there a ribbon for that?
shortstop
@Corner Stone: That slit’s not so little on the chess piece, is my point there, bud. It’s not little at all. And the little knob on top is…disquieting.
colby
@makewi: That’s a pretty massive evidence fail, right there.
Paul in KY
Is it possible that Sen. Manchin is a craven coward who is only and already thinking about his re-election possibliities?
Maybe he should be renamed ‘Sen. Munchkin’?
fasteddie9318
@makewi:
Look, you’re going to fantasize about whatever you’re going to fantasize about; I can’t do anything about that. But please don’t bring that sick crap here. Get help.
Roger Moore
@FormerSwingVoter:
Reid is actually a much better political player than he’s gotten credit for. It’s just that the Senate rules dealt him a much tougher hand than the House rules dealt Pelosi, so she looked a lot more capable than he did by results. But I think he’s played his hand damn well, all considered.
shortstop
@Comrade Mary: I think he’s telling us to start participating in it ourselves, like “Don’t let another day of unpedophilia go by! Put child molestation on your personal calendars!” Maybe he thinks that would give us more empathy for the priests, whose awesome service to the poor surely wipes out any gigantic betrayals of the children entrusted to them and obviously frees the church from observing the laws of the commerce in which it’s freely chosen to engage, and we’ll stop carping and harping about the systemic rape of children.
colby
@makewi:
No, that was you guys with the whole “Religious liberty for me, but not for thee” schtick. Honest mistake. When you have to keep trying (And failing…) to change the terms of the debate just to make your side sound like it’s speaking something approaching human language, it’s easy to lose track of such things.
Comrade Mary
@shortstop: That’s brilliant, really. And maybe someone will make an app for that, too.
Seebach
@makewi: Hey, keep the Catholics away from the kids. I’m fine with that. Fewer raped children.
Tom Q
For the record, the CNN headline on this story just read: “Senate votes down GOP Health Care Plan”
You think they can’t top themselves…
Rafer Janders
@shortstop:
That evil, evil federal government forced Catholic Charities to choose between (a) taking free taxpayer money or (b) living up to Christ’s example and providing its services to all the needy, sinner and saint alike.
Since they weren’t willing to do (b), they had to go without (a). But it’s far more important to ensure that gay men and women aren’t allowed to act as loving parents than it is to continue the mission of trying to find homes for children in need.
Rafer Janders
@makewi:
Ahaha! Ha ha ha ha ha!
That’s the spirt, Holy Mother Church! So dedicated to Christ’s charity that if they can’t do it their way, they’re just going to take their ball and go home.
Davis X. Machina
@Paul in KY: It’s ‘West Virginia Dem. Senator Joe “Nighthorse” Manchin’, people.
brendancalling
Bob Casey voted for this piece of shit. He is such a fucking moron. He also voted to keep gitmo open, his first vote as a senator was to stop stem-cell research. He’s a coward and has never worked a real job in his life.
He doesn’t deserve any support in 2012. Nothing. I hope he loses, he’s not even a real friend to labor either.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@Corner Stone:
Reid wouldn’t let it on the floor unless he know the vote totals beforehand. He knew the R’s were backed into voting aye for it, even though they were having second thoughts about voting on it at all, and he wanted that as another stone around their necks.
Credit where it is due.
LAC
Manchin…West Virginia…a drool cup should be their official state emblem. Why is anyone surprised?
Ken
@makewi: And remember, child molestation!
Yes. Yes, we do.
ornery_curmudgeon
We will do ANYTHING to avoid acknowledging the truth of our sold-out government. It’s not even good theater, quite easy to see the puppet strings.
This must be Nader’s fault.
Kirbster
@FormerSwingVoter:
You know, I was never able to find the Blunt Amendment over at thomas.loc.gov, and I wondered why. I generally like to mention the specific bill or amendment number when I fax angry letters to Scott Brown(R-US Chamber of Commerce).
NCSteve
Heavens. Manchin actions seem to be those of a man who thinks he represents ignorant, spiteful, hateful reactionaries with whom one cannot possibly reason or defend a principled position during an election.
makewi
@Rafer Janders:
Well, Christ would have said follow my teachings unless Ceasar tells you to do something else.
Mnemosyne
@makewi:
That’s funny, the Catholic Health Association hasn’t said anything at all about shutting down hospitals. What, you thought that the bishops had the power to do that? Sorry, but the CHA was created in such a way that the bishops don’t have any actual power over them other than the strength of their whining.
But it is pretty funny that you complain about YOUR tax dollars paying for women to have sex, but you have no problem at all with YOUR same tax dollars going to Catholic hospitals as long as the hospitals don’t provide birth control.
Mnemosyne
@makewi:
Caesar is now saying, “All large employers need to include birth control coverage in their health plans.” So isn’t the Catholic Church going against the specific words of Jesus by refusing to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s?
WaterGirl
@brendancalling: I’m not sure Obama would have won Pennsylvania in 2008 without the support of Bob Casey. I am grateful to Casey for that.
Liz
@Comrade Mary:
kay
@Mnemosyne:
Catholic entities are huge players in health care. HUGE. They’re merging with non-profits and for-profits now, so even the “non profit” distinction might be lost, let alone “charity”. They have no intention of shutting anything.
Makewi wants to cling to some sentimental notion of the world that has nothing whatever to do with the real world. Which is fine, but people shouldn’t depend on that if they need health care. They can’t afford to be so misty-eyed and fanciful.
Liz
@kay: I read a statistic that something like one in every 7 or 8 hospitals in the country is owned by the Catholic church. Does that sound right?
Ugh.
kay
@Liz:
I read one in six beds. The issue isn’t going away, because they’re merging, and that means poor/rural areas won’t have a choice on contraception services, like vasectomy and the like. Permanent contraception is a huge issue with poor people, because they move so much and change jobs so often and have no reliable transportation. With such chaotic lives they can’t do the monthly refill the prescription thing when they decide they’re done having more children. They want their tubes tied.
The hospital mergers are doing these elaborate contractual work-arounds, where they are technically not providing these services, which makes me laugh, because they’re legal distinctions, so the whole “money is fungible” argument magically disappears, I guess.
They had a merger in Arizona where the secular hospital contracted with Planned Parenthood to placate the community and allow the merger to go through. I mean, come on. Why isn’t that money fungible?
Mnemosyne
@Liz:
Well, that’s kind of the tricky thing: they’re not actually owned by the Church, because that would mean the Church would be liable for things like malpractice lawsuits. They’re affiliated with the Church but separate entities.
That’s why you should not be fooled by them trying to have it both ways. It’s not like we’re talking about hospitals staffed solely by Catholic nuns. They have large, diverse workforces, most of whom are NOT Catholic, but the Church is now trying to claim that all of those non-Catholics should be treated as though they’re Catholic clergy just because they work at the hospital.
FormerSwingVoter
@Kirbster:
I dunno, I feel like yelling might be more effective than information when it comes to Congressional staffers. You can’t reason a man out of a position that he never reasoned himself into in the first place, y’know?
Steve
@Kirbster: It is not easy because they never put names on these things. I found it by searching under Blunt’s name, then skipping over the bills to go down to the amendments, and then looking for an amendment that was introduced just recently. The right one sort of jumped out at me because it is the only one with a bunch of cosponsors. It is S. Amdt. 1520.
honus
@Violet: Maybe, depending on who challenged him. I just don’t think enough democrats would support him as a republican. he didn’t beat Raese all that bad last year considering Raese started talking about satellites and stuff. I think somebody like Booth Goodwin running as a democrat would clean Joe’s clock as a republican.
The Static Man
The answer: Joe Manchin is Walt Minnick. Expect him to go down in flames running controversional ads that he whole heatedly approves of to some wingnut in the election.
KrisWV
Well, Joe Manchin is an as*hole, nobody who can win is primarying him in WV, and he thinks maybe he’ll be Veep choice for a Republican. What an as*hole.
Patricia Kayden
“Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania joined Republicans in support of the amendment.”
How are these bozos Democratic? Seems like Nelson and Manchin in particular always vote with the Rethugs. Why not just join that party?
brantl
Manchin’s an asshole, between this and the shotgun commercial, isnt’ that settled?