White House Telling Me to Zip It: Stupak

The White House would really rather Bart Stupak keep his opinions about the abortion funding “compromise” in the Senate health care bill to himself, but the staunch rep isn’t playing ball. “They think I shouldn’t be expressing my views on this bill until they get a chance to try to sell me the language,” Stupak tells the conservative CNS News. “I don’t need anyone to sell me the language. I can read it. I’ve seen it.” And he doesn’t like what he’s seen.

The Senate “compromise” intends to ban federal funding for abortion, but does it in a far less explicit way than Stupak’s House amendment. To that end, the lawmaker issued a statement calling it “unacceptable.” And since he’s such a high-profile abortion opponent, “folks were asking me, and I’m not going to run from the issue. I’m going to stand up and say, ‘Look, here’s my objections.’” Stupak maintains that there is sufficient opposition to the compromise language among Democrats that it wouldn’t pass a House vote. (More Bart Stupak stories.)