WASHINGTON (EWTN NEWS/CNA)—Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, vowed Feb. 8 to use legislative means to fight the Obama administration’s controversial contraception mandate.
In a rare speech on the House floor, Boehner said that the recently announced mandate “constitutes an unambiguous attack on religious freedom in our country.”
He warned that if President Obama does not reverse the mandate, “then the Congress, acting on behalf of the American people and the Constitution we are sworn to uphold and defend, must.”
On Jan. 20, Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a new mandate that requires virtually all employers to purchase health insurance plans that include contraception, sterilization and drugs that cause early abortions.
Despite massive protests from Catholics and other believers, Sebelius has refused to extend a religious exemption to individuals and organizations that say the mandate forces them to purchase products and services that violate the teachings of their religion.
Boehner, who is Catholic, spoke about the mandate on the same day that Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., announced that he plans to advance legislation “to reverse the controversial decision and restore long-standing conscience protections.”
Upton, who serves as the chair of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, said that he is “deeply disappointed with the recent decision” by the Obama administration, which he called a violation of the First Amendment.
The committee held a hearing last November to examine the potential threat that the proposed health-care mandate posed to conscience rights and access to health care.
Upton said that at the time he had urged the administration “to reconsider this threat to religious freedom.”
Now, he is “preparing to move quickly” on the legislation, according to a Feb. 8 committee statement.
In addition, Sebelius is scheduled to testify on March 1 before members of the committee, who will have the opportunity to question her directly about the mandate.
Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., recently introduced a bill in the Senate that would overturn the mandate.
In his House floor speech, Boehner praised Upton for working towards an “effective and appropriate solution.”
He said that by holding a hearing when the rule was first proposed last year, Upton “began laying the groundwork for legislative action” against the mandate.
Boehner noted that “Americans of every faith and political persuasion have mobilized” in opposition to the mandate in recent days.
“In imposing this requirement, the federal government has drifted dangerously beyond its constitutional boundaries,” he said.
He warned that the regulation encroaches on religious liberty “in a manner that affects millions of Americans and harms some of our nation’s most vital institutions.”
“The House will approach this matter fairly and deliberately,” Boehner vowed, adding that the chamber would work “through regular order and the appropriate legislative channels.
“This attack by the federal government on religious freedom in our country must not stand, and will not stand.”
Matthew Warner: Thank God for the HHS Mandate
Dan Burke: A Novena to the Mother of God for the United States
Comments
Post a Comment
Excuse me while I scratch and yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyawn… pure rhetoric and propaganda… The lizard people have no compassion for the noble just, poor, meek, and humble… in their deluded fantasies WE are jealous of their worldly wealth and power… and THEY are wiser than the pure of heart and noble poor… quid pro quo Mr. Boehner, et al?
Generally, I have been underwhelmed with Boehner’s leadership, but good for him to draw the line in the sand here…
There is no reason to expect God has any appreciation of or tolerance for not vbeing open and above board about your agenda. especially when it involves what is supposed to be of value to God, disguising it as merely an element in a larger issue. The tactic of addressing resistance to government mandates on permitting abortion services as simply part of overall “religious freedom” can explode right in Christian activists’ faces. Because “religious freedom” means many things to many people. To an extent, Muslims and other such peoples do see the idea of “honor killing” as a part of religious observance. An expression of their devotion to their code of right and wrong. To promote complete “religious freedom” in the way the activists are doing now can result in the Christians actually promoting killing!
The Socialist Emperor a/k/a President Death is indirectly attacking Rick Santorum and maybe Newt Gingrich with HHS; he is trying to make them look like extremists by having Pravda West make HHS an issue about depriving the People of their right to free contraception. But most people are not being fooled. They see the tiny man behind the curtain pulling the strings. HHS is about President Obama Obama Obama overreaching his ambitions by attacking the First Amendment. HHS is also about forcing Catholic doctors AND ALL DOCTORS to PERFORM ABORTIONS, but we don’t hear that from the Socialist Media.
The bill from the Senate floor is great, however, what has me confused in light of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution is why additional legislation should be necessary to protect are already protected religious rights?
All the grandstanding from the House floor is fine, but in light of our already protected religious rights and freedoms, why don’t I hear them appealing to articles of Impeachment?
The new bill from the Senate floor is great, but in light of our already protected rights of religious freedom by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, I’m not sure why additional legislation is necessary?
All the grandstanding in House of Reps is fine too, but if our rights under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to religious freedom and liberty are being violated, why don’t I hear appeals to articles of Impeachment from the House floor?
Dismas,
President Obama Obama Obama is violating our Constitution and our God-given Rights by requiring all doctors, nurses, pharmacists and anybody else he can command to provide free contraception and/or abortions regardless of their religious beliefs.
When he was a senator he had the most pro-abortion voting record on record. On March 30, 2001, Obama was the only Illinois senator who rose to speak against a bill that would have protected babies who survived late term labor-induced abortion. He was Senator Death; now he is President Death. Not only does he want babies murdered, he wants all of us to murder them.
This is the Battle between Good and Evil. Choose Life over death; choose good over evil.
+Art
Every abortion kills someone God loves.
Dear Dismas - If the government can force Catholics to violate their conscientious objection to contraception, it can force Orthodox Jews to allow Gentiles to enter their sanctuaries; it can force Moslems to admit women to their worship space; it can even force atheists to pay for Nativity scenes. If some of us are not free, none of us are free. And as for constitutional provisions being adquate defenses of liberty, ask any black person over 40 why the civil rights movement was necessary. As Barney Frank would say, on what planet do you spend most of your time?
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.