Chuck Schumer

Dems Salivate Over Coming GOP Birth Control Misstep

Brian Beutler | February 24, 2012, 12:44PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

The GOP's ongoing push to allow employers to deny contraceptive -- or any -- health care coverage has Democrats in an amusing position: outraged that the Republican party has reignited the culture wars, and simultaneously salivating over what they believe is a deadly GOP political misstep.

In the days ahead, Senate Republicans, led by Missouri's Roy Blunt, will vote on a controversial amendment to pending transportation legislation -- one that would enshrine employers' right to limit health care benefits for moral reasons.

On a conference call with reporters Friday morning, top Senate Democrats were of two minds: incensed that the GOP is pushing a non-germane issue so hard, and also ecstatic about it.

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Birth Control

Why Dems Think They're Winning The Contraception Battle

Pema Levy | February 23, 2012, 4:17PM

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

When it comes to the contraception debate, Democrats and Republicans have dug their trenches and settled in for a long battle. The latest skirmish Thursday morning was an unofficial hearing held by Democratic Steering and Policy Committee to hear testimony in support of the administration's contraception rule.

Both sides think this is a winning issue for them. Thursday's hearing featured the testimony of Sandra Fluke, a third year law student at Georgetown University Law Center, a Jesuit university which does not cover contraception in its student health care plan. Democrats had asked that Fluke testify at a House Oversight Committee hearing last week but the committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa said she was not an "appropriate" or "qualified" witness. The uproar Democrats caused over her exclusion, and the all-male panel that did testify, helped them promote their message that the GOP does not care about women.

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Birth Control

Pelosi: GOP 'Censoring' Female Witness On Birth Control

Sahil Kapur | February 22, 2012, 6:08PM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

House Republicans have refused to televise a Democratic-led hearing on birth control that features the testimony of a female witness the GOP spurned in a recent hearing, says House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). And Pelosi wants you to know it.

The hearing Thursday is set to have as its sole witness Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown law student whom House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) forbade from testifying at his contraception hearing last week despite requests from Democrats. Issa's hearing instead included an all-male panel of religious authorities, partly in an effort to convey his claim that the issue was solely about religious freedom, and not really about women's rights.

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Birth Control

Birth Control Lawsuits Have Shaky Legal Merit

Sahil Kapur | February 22, 2012, 6:17AM

President Obama's religious accommodation in his rule requiring insurance plans to cover birth control has failed to placate elements of the Catholic community, and, with strong GOP support, they remain determined to sue. But do the lawsuits, the latest of which was filed Tuesday, have much legal merit? Possibly, but if judicial precedent is any indication, probably not.

The tweaked regulation says religious non-profits like universities and hospitals do not need to pay for free birth control coverage in their employee health plans, and can pass the cost on to the insurance company. (Churches and houses of worship are entirely exempt.) But like other entities, Ave Maria University, a Catholic institution, argues in a new legal challenge that affiliating itself with any access to contraception would violate its religious beliefs.

But barring a departure from precedent, the lawsuits aren't set to go very far.

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Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart Blasts Darrell Issa's 'Punanny State'

David Taintor | February 21, 2012, 9:26AM

Jon Stewart

Remember the all-male panel convened last week on the Obama administration's birth control rule? Or, as Jon Stewart called the uproar on Monday, the "punanny state."

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Contraception

'Where Are The Women?' Democrats Go On Offense Over Contraception

Pema Levy | February 17, 2012, 5:58AM

Democrats have a new rallying cry when it comes to the Obama administration's hotly contested contraception rule. Thursday, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) gazed at an all male panel at yesterday's House Oversight hearing and asked, "Where are the women?" The question is being repeated by Democrats and women's rights groups as they attempt to shape the narrative of the contraception issue.

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Darrell Issa

Birth Control Hearing Not Really About Birth Control, Says GOP

Pema Levy | February 16, 2012, 3:49PM

A House Oversight Committee hearing Thursday morning began with a heated debate and a walkout over witnesses. The question of who could testify was so contentious because it was part of the fundamental political argument at stake over the administration's rule on contraception coverage: whether the issue at stake is access to contraception or religious liberty.

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Birth Control

Dems Accuse GOP Of Denying Fair Hearing On Birth Control Rule

Pema Levy | February 16, 2012, 7:00AM

Calek/ Shutterstock

Democrats are accusing Republicans of denying a witness who holds contrary views an opportunity to testify at a hearing on President Obama's birth control regulation -- a charge the GOP disputes.

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Birth Control

GOPers Only Enraged By Birth Control Rule When Obama's Pushing It

Sahil Kapur | February 16, 2012, 5:55AM

What do you do if your party's marching behind an issue that your likely nominee for president has a spotty record on?

That conundrum faces most congressional Republicans right now. When it comes to their push to reverse the White House's mandate to expand access to birth control -- which they argue violates religious freedom -- Mitt Romney's record is unfortunate. As governor of Massachusetts, he presided over the same policy critics are now assailing President Obama for: obliging most employers to provide health insurance that includes birth control for their female employees, even if the employer belongs to a religion that opposes those services. Indeed, because of the White House's compromise, which would allow religious nonprofits to opt out of paying the insurer for those services and demand that the insurer offer them to the female employee directly, Romney's law was arguably even stronger.

On Wednesday more than two-dozen Republican lawmakers ran into this issue head-on. They gathered together in the Capitol to fulminate against President Obama's egregious violation of religious freedom. But none of them would rule out supporting a presidential candidate who had enacted a virtually identical mandate.

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Birth Control

Snowe & Collins Seem To Be Hedging On Birth Control

Sahil Kapur | February 15, 2012, 1:26PM

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

After indicating that they were placated by President Obama's tweaked birth control regulation, Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins appear to be hedging on it, speaking late Tuesday to Jonathan Riskind of the home-state Portland Press Herald.

They appeared to dance around the issue, not taking a stance but saying they aren't fully with Obama.

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Contraception

Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Favor Contraception Coverage Mandate -- Including Catholics

Eric Kleefeld | February 15, 2012, 11:08AM

Calek/ Shutterstock

The new CBS/New York Times poll shows that the White House's fight over contraception in health insurance plans is in fact on the winning side with the public -- and among Catholics, too, the group whose church leadership has mounted the mount vigorous campaign against it.

The poll of American adults asked: "Do you support or oppose a recent federal requirement that private health insurance plans cover the full cost of birth control for their female patients?" The answer was: Support 66%, Oppose 26%.

A follow-up question then specifically brought the religious element into the equation: "And what about for religiously affiliated employers, such as a hospital or university -- do you support or oppose a recent federal requirement that their health insurance plans cover the full cost of birth control for their female employees?"

The answer was still a very sizable majority: Support 61%, Oppose 31%. And on that followup question, Catholics were essentially identical to the top-line at 61%-32%. Women also supported it by 66%-28%, and men by 55%-38%.

Contraception

Blunt: Contraception Mandate Not 'Only Litmus Test' For Presidential Candidate

Brian Beutler | February 14, 2012, 4:23PM

Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO)

You'd think the GOP's ongoing, dogged push to allow any employer to deny female employees contraceptive coverage is an indication that Republicans take a strong stance on the issue.

But it's not. On Tuesday afternoon, I asked Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) whether he could support a Republican presidential candidate who had required religious institutions to provide female employees with contraceptive coverage.

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Highway Bill

Dems To GOP: Keep Birth Control Out Of Highway Bill

Sahil Kapur | February 14, 2012, 2:05PM

Sensing a political upper-hand in the brewing culture war, Senate Democrats had their guns blazing against the GOP's birth control amendment Tuesday, vowing to fight Republicans' best efforts to tack it on to the bipartisan highway bill and warning that the measure would take women's health in America back to the "dark ages."

"In 2012, I stand here in complete amazement," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), "that in a country known for its medical breakthroughs and advancements, Republicans would have us go back to the medical dark ages." She said the energy and transportation bill otherwise has strong bipartisan support, and deemed the contraception amendment both a poison pill and irrelevant.

The amendment by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) purports to focus on contraception, but it goes well beyond that. As written, it would permit all employers to deny any health services in their insurance plans that aren't in accordance with their "religious beliefs and moral convictions." The measure states no limitations or criteria, which means employers have free rein to decide what medical care their employees may or may not receive.

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Contraception

Obama Shatters GOP's United Front On Birth Control

Sahil Kapur | February 14, 2012, 5:35AM

Schisms are emerging within the Republican Party after President Obama's announcement last Friday that he would tweak his contraception mandate to ensure that religious nonprofits aren't forced to pay for an employee's birth control coverage. And as GOP leaders push to repeal the requirement entirely, the White House is welcoming that battle.

The shift is looking like an act of political jujitsu as Obama has not only unified his base but splintered the GOP coalition, which initially appeared united against the President's rule. Obama won over the Democrats and moderate Catholics who criticized him, while maintaining the support of those who backed the original rule. As an added bonus, he has turned some Republicans who initially opposed his policy against their own leaders.

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Contraception

Women's Groups Broadly Support Birth Control Compromise

Pema Levy | February 10, 2012, 2:22PM

On Friday, the Obama administration announced a rule change to accommodate religious organizations on the issue of contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act. So far, pro-choice groups who hoped the administration would not to cave on the issue have seemed broadly satisfied with the changes, having been assured by the President that "all women will still have access to free preventive care that includes contraceptive services."

The new rule shifts the onus of coverage from employers to insurers. "The insurance company will be required to reach out directly and offer her contraceptive coverage free of charge," an administration official told reporters on a conference call.

Women's groups are taking the administration at its word that the change will not cost women coverage. "In the face of a misleading and outrageous assault on women's health, the Obama administration has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring all women will have access to birth control coverage, with no costly co-pays, no additional hurdles, and no matter where they work," read Planned Parenthood's statement. "We believe the compliance mechanism does not compromise a woman's ability to access these critical birth control benefits."

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Birth Control

White House Seeks To Mute Catholic Uproar Over Contraception Rule

Brian Beutler | February 10, 2012, 12:23PM

In the days since the conservative and religious uproar over the Obama administration's new contraceptive rule first erupted, the White House has been attempting to thread a policy needle so that nearly all women can receive free contraceptive services from their employer-provided health insurers, without forcing religious non-profits to provide benefits they oppose on "moral" grounds.

On Friday, President Obama announced the plan, which senior administration officials described in detail on a conference call with reporters.

"All women will still have access to free preventive care that includes contraceptive services," one official said. But if a religious institution declines to provide coverage that includes contraceptive services, "the insurance company will be required to reach out directly and offer her contraceptive coverage free of charge."

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Mitt Romney

Dems Slam Romney For Inconsistencies On Birth Control

Sahil Kapur | February 9, 2012, 5:17PM

In his 2006 Massachusetts health care law, Mitt Romney embraced a virtually identical contraception coverage mandate as President Obama recently has, experts say, and as a result expanded access to birth control for hundreds of thousands of women. And Democrats really want you to know that.

"They are practically mirror images or each other," John McDonough, a professor of public health at Harvard, said on a conference call organized by the Democratic National Committee. "They completely reflect each other."

Romney has embraced the shocked, shocked tone of leading Republicans on this issue in recent days, and Democrats have acted swiftly to flag up inconsistencies in his position.

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Birth Control

Rubio Bill Lets ANY Employer Deny Birth Control Coverage

Sahil Kapur | February 9, 2012, 3:25PM

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FLA).

Legislation introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to reverse the Obama administration's birth control rule would effectively permit any employer to deny contraception coverage in their employee health plans, critics note.

"Any employer could deny birth control coverage under Rubio's bill and all the employer would have to do is say it's for a religious reason," said Jessica Arons, Director of the Women's Health and Rights Program at the liberal Center for American Progress. "There is no test to prove eligibility. It's a loophole you could drive a truck through."

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Birth Control

GOP Ripe For Splits In Assault On Birth Control Rule

Sahil Kapur | February 8, 2012, 5:58PM

Congressional Republicans' pledge to mount a legislative push against the Obama administration's requirement that health insurance plans cover birth control comes with a risk: Alienating their members who have previously pushed or voted to mandate contraception coverage.

Back in 2001, six Republican senators sponsored legislation decreeing that health insurance plans may not "exclude or restrict benefits for prescription contraceptive drugs or devices approved by the Food and Drug Administration." In other words, they would be required to provide birth control. The bill never made it out of committee, but that wasn't for a lack of effort from the GOP.

The measure's lead sponsor was Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and cosponsors included Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME); the other four have since left Congress. Counterpart legislation in the House was introduced by former Rep. James Greenwood (R-PA) and cosponsored by 14 others Republicans including incumbent Rep. Todd Platts (PA) and now-Sen. Mark Kirk (IL).

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Birth Control

Boehner Threatens Legislative Action If Obama Does Not Reverse Birth Control Rule

Sahil Kapur | February 8, 2012, 12:13PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) gave a rare floor speech Wednesday threatening legislative action if the Obama administration does not reverse its rule requiring health insurance plans to cover birth control without copays.

"If the president does not reverse the Department's attack on religious freedom, then the Congress, acting on behalf of the American people and the Constitution we are sworn to uphold and defend, must," Boehner said. "This attack by the federal government on religious freedom in our country cannot stand, and will not stand."

The Speaker said the House would take matters into its own hands with committee hearings and legislative action to push back if the administration declines to act.

"In the days ahead, the House will approach this matter fairly and deliberately, through regular order and the appropriate legislative channels," Boehner said. He called on the Energy & Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the issue, to take steps against the rule and "consider all possible options."

Boehner last week called the regulation unconstitutional. The White House is weighing options to appease religious concerns.

Watch Boehner's speech below:

Birth Control

Putting The Growing Birth Control Firestorm In Perspective

Sahil Kapur | February 6, 2012, 4:05PM

The Obama administration's requirement that health insurance plans cover birth control has provoked a full-blown Republican firestorm over religious liberty. But the policy itself carves out an exemption for churches and doesn't require any individual or employer to violate a religious belief -- it simply ensures that their employees with different beliefs have the same access to birth control as all other women.

The background: The Affordable Care Act provides that insurance companies cover certain preventive health services without copays. Last August, the Department of Health and Human Services drew upon recommendations from the Institute of Medicine and decided that birth control be part of that package. It said employer-based health care plans must cover contraceptive services without copays. The move received limited attention at the time.

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Birth Control

Boehner: Birth Control Mandate Is Unconstitutional

Sahil Kapur | February 2, 2012, 2:55PM

U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks to the press during his weekly press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on December 1, 2011.

As religious groups freak out over the Obama administration's contraception mandate, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) piled on by claiming that the policy is unconstitutional.

The mandate, authorized under the Affordable Care Act, holds that employer-provided health insurance plans must provide birth control to women without co-pays. Houses of worship are exempt, and religious nonprofits are allowed an additional year before they begin complying. But conservative religious organizations and their allies on Capitol Hill say that's not enough.

"I think this mandate violates our constitution," Boehner told reporters on Thursday. "I think it violates the right of these religious organizations. And I would hope that the administration would back up and take another look."

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