Administration Furious Over Abortion Clause in HOPE Act, Threatens Veto

What seemed yesterday to be a bipartisan and friendly bill, the HOPE Act has now spawned anger in the Obama Administration and provoked a veto threat from the President.

A top official in the Obama Administration told The Claremont Beat today “A clause was included that greatly expands the conscience provision which states the government cannot stop funding to any physician or health care provider” based on the providers decision whether or not to perform abortions”.

The clause originally was enacted to cover “an individual physician” and dealt with the performance of abortions. Republicans inserted “provide coverage of, or pay for” along with “perform”, and also added other health professionals to the coverage.

Finally, the biggest change in the act would be the change to section 245 of the Public Health Service Act expanding the Act’s coverage to “a hospital, a provider sponsored organization, a health maintenance organization, or any other kind of health care facility or organization”.

The President expressed anger over this deceptive behavior by the Republican Party, but his official assured me the call for bipartisanship has not ended. He said, “We hope for more transparency in the future [but this] strains relations”.

“We can’t speak for the Democratic Party, we can only say that the administration will veto the bill if this provision is not removed and transparency is not increased”, he ended.

Both parties have scheduled press conferences for today before hearings begin – Republicans at 5pm and the Obama Administration at 5:45pm.