Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the author of the controversial H.R. 3 bill that pro-choice critics and the White House say will severely limit the ability of women to find abortion coverage in private insurance plans, would not explicitly sign on with fellow Republicans calling for it to be tied to the debt ceiling vote.
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday as the House prepares for its expected passage of the “No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act,” Smith — one of the House’s most ardent opponents of abortion and a leader on the issue for decades — brushed off direct questions about a plan floated by some Republicans to tie HR 3 to the upcoming vote to raise the nation’s debt limit. Republicans were able to attach an anti-abortion rider to the budget deal preventing Washington, DC from spending its taxpayer funds on abortion coverage for poor women, and some Republicans hope to repeat that strategy with Smith’s bill.
Smith dodged when asked if he’d support the plan.
“I just want to get through today,” he told TPM.
Under questioning about the scheme from reporters about the scheme, Smith didn’t shed new light beyond the calls for the plan coming from other Republicans.
“I’m not sure about strategy at this point, but all things are always on the table,” he said. “But I don’t know if that’s at all being considered.”
With a majority Democrat Senate and a promised White House veto (should it come to that), Smith acknowledged that passage of H.R. 3 from bill to law isn’t likely in the short-term.
“Every pro life bill that I’ve ever been involved with has always had a very rough journey,” he said. “There’s no doubt that we have an upward climb in the Senate. I say with true regret and sadness that President Obama has been, sadly, the abortion president.”
The New Jersey Republican said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) will sponsor the legislation in the Senate.
“I do think we have a shot [there],” Smith said.
Smith promised to keep fighting for his legislation, even if it doesn’t make it pass the House vote this time around. He said polls show Americans are coming around to his side of things and he said the country is becoming “more pro-life than ever.”
“Our hope is, very much an optimist, that this legislation will be signed into law,” Smith said of HR 3. “It may happen this year, it may happen next year, or the following year, but we will not stop. This is far too important.”
Igor Bobic contributed to this report.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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