House Passes ‘Build Back Better Act’ to Force American Taxpayers to Fund Abortions
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a nearly $2 trillion social spending package that will force Americans to directly fund abortions.
The Build Back Better Act (HR 5376) passed the House by a 220-213 vote on Friday morning.
Recently, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi addressed whether the Hyde amendment was included in the Build Back Better Act.
“It’s not in the bill. It’s not in the bill. Thank you for your question. It’s not in the bill,” she said.
The Hyde amendment is a decades-old pro-life measure that prohibits taxpayer dollars from being used to directly fund abortions. According to analysis from the Charlotte Lozier Institute, over its 40-year history, the Hyde amendment has saved an estimated 2,409,311 lives.
In an eight-hour long speech slamming the bill, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said, “This socialist spending scam abandons the longstanding, bipartisan Hyde Amendment, allowing for taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand and violating the rights of conscience of millions of Americans,” McCarthy said. “That alone is reason enough to defeat the bill.”
The pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) issued a press release following the act’s passage, saying the bill will “dramatically expand taxpayer funding of abortion.”
“Under the bill’s new health care expansion, the federal government would even fund abortions with taxpayer dollars in pro-life states that have currently opted out of abortion funding,” the organization noted.
In a score letter authored by Susan B. Anthony List, the organization states that the bill’s section on public health “massively expands funding without Hyde protections.”
The various public health sections “together appropriate $15.87 billion outside of Hyde protections for health equity activity.”
SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said, “We urge the Senate to add pro-life protections, so this massive bill does not see the light of day without the Hyde Amendment, which stops taxpayer funding of abortion and has saved millions of American lives.”
Now, the Build Back Better Act heads back to the U.S. Senate for consideration, where it still faces a steep climb to become law, especially since the bill does not include the Hyde amendment.
In September, moderate U.S. Senator Joe Manchin addressed whether he would support an appropriations bill that doesn’t include Hyde.
“Yeah, we’re not taking the Hyde amendment off. Hyde’s going to be on,” Sen. Manchin said. “It has to be. It has to be. That’s dead-on-arrival if that’s gone.”
To become law, the act will need the support of all 50 Democrat senators, since no Republicans support the bill.
Photo from Reuters.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zachary Mettler is a writer/analyst for the Daily Citizen at Focus on the Family. In his role, he writes about current political issues, U.S. history, political philosophy, and culture. Mettler earned his Bachelor’s degree from William Jessup University and is an alumnus of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. In addition to the Daily Citizen, his written pieces have appeared in the Daily Wire, the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Townhall, the Daily Signal, the Christian Post, Charisma News and other outlets.
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