Political Quotes

“I rise because the Treasury-Postal conferees have bypassed the will of the majority and decided to kill the contraceptive coverage language in the Treasury/Postal bill. This is an outrage. Our contraceptive language was included in the original legislation passed both in the House and in the Senate, and conferees last week signed off on including the House language in the bill. At the same time, conferees agreed to include the Senate's provision specifically excluding coverage of abortion or abortion-related service, and conferees signed the report, closed out the conference and sent the report to the House for consideration. The language the House of Representatives passed by a vote of 224 to 198 on July 15, 1998. The Senate language was agreed to by unanimous consent. It isn't very complicated language. If you take the time to read the two versions, you will see that their intent is the same. The main difference in the two versions is the conscience clause in the Senate bill. In addition to listing the five plans that OPM identifies as being religious-based, it goes a step further by providing a waiver to future or existing plans that have reason to oppose contraceptive coverage because of their religious beliefs. Also the Senate language clarifies that this provision is not intended to cover abortion--and again I would note that this provision was in the conference report when it was signed the first time.”