Senator Mike Johanns today urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressional majority leaders not to defy democratic principles by stifling debate and preventing a vote to protect the sanctity of life.

Current language in the Democrat health care bill would give the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) the authority to decide whether a public insurance plan would allow and pay for abortions with federal funds. An amendment proposed by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), would correct this problem and ensure federal funds are not used to fund abortions. However, Democrat leaders have proposed a procedure to exclude consideration of this vital amendment, and will instead fold in a "trojan horse" abortion amendment by Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) that would not fix this problem.

"For more than a decade, it has been a very bipartisan belief in both houses of Congress that taxpayer dollars should not fund abortions, and the thought of this belief being rejected, reversed and shut out of the health care debate is deplorable," Johanns said. "Those who support the ideals of a free democratic process only in times of political convenience are doing a great disservice to our legislative institutions and our country. The American people have a right to know exactly where members of Congress stand on this and other important issues. Slamming the door on a vote is unacceptable."

Background
· In his address to Congress on Sept. 9, President Obama maintained no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.

· The House of Representatives on Friday will consider restricting debate on the Pelosi plan to only three hours, essentially one minute of debate for every eleven pages in the bill, or six seconds per page.

This rule would prevent a vote on Rep. Stupak's measure, which prohibits taxpayer funding of abortions in any public plan.