Politics / Max Baucus Senate Finance Panel Agrees at Last—to Fund Abstinence Ed Conrad, Lincoln, join GOP to pass measure By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff Posted Sep 30, 2009 8:12 AM CDT Copied Senate Finance Committee members Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, left, and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-ND, talk on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) On the same day it voted to kill Democrats' hopes for a health bill with a public option, the Senate Finance Committee showed the love to abstinence. Committee Republicans displayed a little nostalgia for the Bush administration, voting to restore $50 million a year in federal funding for abstinence-only education that President Obama has pushed to eliminate. The 12-11 vote came over objections from chairman Max Baucus. story continues below Democrats Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas joined all 10 committee Republicans in voting for Orrin Hatch's proposal; the measure will still have to pass the full House and Senate. Obama had proposed in his 2010 budget to direct money spent on abstinence-only education to broader teen pregnancy-reduction programs. An alternate measure offered by Baucus to make money available for education on contraception and STDs in addition to abstinence also passed, in a 14-9 vote. (More Max Baucus stories.) Report an error