The Blunt Amendment: How Your Senator Voted
Senate tables effort to defend conscientious objection to providing contraception and abortion coverage.
WASHINGTON — Efforts to secure religious freedom for employers and insurers who object on moral and religious grounds to the federal mandate for contraception and abortion coverage stalled in the U.S. Senate today.
The Senate voted 51-48 to table the bipartisan Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (S. 1467), sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and 37 other senators.
The Blunt amendment was attached to a critical highway bill.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement saying the vote “impels the Church to strengthen its resolve to support religious freedom.”
“The need to defend citizens’ rights of conscience is the most critical issue before our country right now,” Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., said in today’s statement. Bishop Lori chairs the bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty. “We will continue our strong defense of conscience rights through all available legal means. Religious freedom is at the heart of democracy and rooted in the dignity of every human person. We will not rest until the protection of conscience rights is restored and the First Amendment is returned to its place of respect in the Bill of Rights.”
Bishop Lori said the conference will build on the “base of support” in the Senate, consisting of the 48 senators who voted for the bill, including several Democrats. He said the bipartisan vote reaffirmed “our nation’s long tradition of respect for rights of conscience in health care.”
The bishop said the conference would “pursue legislation in the House of Representatives, urge the administration to change its course on this issue, and explore our legal rights under the Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”
Reaction also came from Matt Bowman, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which is fighting the contraception mandate in court.
“The government cannot tell Americans that certain parts of their faith are not important enough to practice,” Bowman said in a statement. “People of faith are explicitly protected by the Constitution and federal law from such radical state invasions of conscience. The Blunt/Fortenberry Amendment was a necessary measure to begin to restore the religious liberties of Americans that Obamacare has trampled on with its assumption of unlimited bureaucratic power. Every vote for religious freedom should be unanimous, but, tragically, our fundamental freedoms didn’t seem to matter to enough senators.”
How They Voted
A ‘Yea’ vote was to reject the Blunt Amendment.
51 Yea, 48 Nay, 1 Not Voting
By Party Affiliation
Democrat: 48 Yea, 3 Nay
Republican: 1 Yea, 45 Nay, 1 Not Voting
Independent: 2 Yea, 0 Nay
By Home State
Alabama
Jeff Sessions-R: Nay
Richard Shelby-R: Nay
Alaska
Mark Begich-D: Yea
Lisa Murkowski-R: Nay
Arizona
Jon Kyl-R: Nay
John McCain-R: Nay
Arkansas
John Boozman-R: Nay
Mark Pryor-D: Yea
California
Barbara Boxer-D: Yea
Dianne Feinstein-D: Yea
Colorado
Michael Bennet-D: Yea
Mark Udall-D: Yea
Connecticut
Richard Blumenthal-D: Yea
Joseph Lieberman-I: Yea
Delaware
Tom Carper-D: Yea
Chris Coons-D: Yea
Florida
Bill Nelson-D: Yea
Marco Rubio-R: Nay
Georgia
Saxby Chambliss-R: Nay
Johnny Isakson-R: Nay
Hawaii
Daniel Akaka-D: Yea
Daniel Inouye-D: Yea
Idaho
Mike Crapo-R: Nay
Jim Risch-R: Nay
Illinois
Dick Durbin-D: Yea
Mark Kirk-R: Not Voting
Indiana
Dan Coats-R: Nay
Richard Lugar-R: Nay
Iowa
Chuck Grassley-R: Nay
Tom Harkin-D: Yea
Kansas
Jerry Moran-R: Nay
Pat Roberts-R: Nay
Kentucky
Mitch McConnell-R: Nay
Rand Paul-R: Nay
Louisiana
Mary Landrieu-D: Yea
David Vitter-R: Nay
Maine
Susan Collins-R: Nay
Olympia Snowe-R: Yea
Maryland
Ben Cardin-D: Yea
Barbara Mikulski-D: Yea
Massachusetts
Scott Brown-R: Nay
John Kerry-D: Yea
Michigan
Carl Levin-D: Yea
Debbie Stabenow-D: Yea
Minnesota
Al Franken-D: Yea
Amy Klobuchar-D: Yea
Mississippi
Thad Cochran-R: Nay
Roger Wicker-R: Nay
Missouri
Roy Blunt-R: Nay
Claire McCaskill-D: Yea
Montana
Max Baucus-D: Yea
Jon Tester-D: Yea
Nebraska
Mike Johanns-R: Nay
Ben Nelson-D: Nay
Nevada
Dean Heller-R: Nay
Harry Reid-D: Yea
New Hampshire
Kelly Ayotte-R: Nay
Jeanne Shaheen-D: Yea
New Jersey
Frank Lautenberg-D: Yea
Bob Menendez-D: Yea
New Mexico
Jeff Bingaman-D: Yea
Tom Udall-D: Yea
New York
Kirsten Gillibrand-D: Yea
Chuck Schumer-D: Yea
North Carolina
Richard Burr-R: Nay
Kay Hagan-D: Yea
North Dakota
Kent Conrad-D: Yea
John Hoeven-R: Nay
Ohio
Sherrod Brown-D: Yea
Bob Portman-R: Nay
Oklahoma
Tom Coburn-R: Nay
Jim Inhofe-R: Nay
Oregon
Jeff Merkley-D: Yea
Ron Wyden-D: Yea
Pennsylvania
Bob Casey-D: Nay
Pat Toomey-R: Nay
Rhode Island
Jack Reed-D: Yea
Sheldon Whitehouse-D: Yea
South Carolina
Jim DeMint-R: Nay
Lindsey Graham-R: Nay
South Dakota
Tim Johnson-D: Yea
John Thune-R: Nay
Tennessee
Lamar Alexander-R: Nay
Bob Corker-R: Nay
Texas
John Cornyn-R: Nay
Kay Bailey Hutchison-R: Nay
Utah
Orrin Hatch-R: Nay
Mike Lee-R: Nay
Vermont
Patrick Leahy-D: Yea
Bernie Sanders-I: Yea
Virginia
Mark Warner-D: Yea
Jim Webb-D: Yea
Washington
Maria Cantwell-D: Yea
Patty Murray-D: Yea
West Virginia
Joe Manchin-D: Nay
Jay Rockefeller-D: Yea
Wisconsin
Ron Johnson-R: Nay
Herb Kohl-D: Yea
Wyoming
John Barrasso-R: Nay
Mike Enzi-R: Nay