Bob Kerrey: “first of all, all Members have made up their minds on this issue. So it is not a question of trying to persuade anybody…”

“first of all, all Members have made up their minds on this issue. So it is not a question of trying to persuade anybody one way or the other. It is trying to say to the American people, those of us who intend to vote for allowing Federal employee health programs--as in this bill, their insurance money--to be used to pay for reproductive services, including legal abortions. I have a great deal of respect for the Senator from Ohio, the Senator from Indiana, the occupant of the chair, and others who hold a different view. But when they come and say this is about using taxpayer money to pay for abortions, really, the only way you can prevent taxpayer money from being used for abortions by Federal employees would be to actually come in and prohibit their salaries to be used in any way at all for abortion, because their salaries are paid for with taxpayer money. If my salary is paid for with taxpayer money, if I am already provided a subsidy in my salary, what good does it do to say that they can't have health insurance programs do it? We have two-thirds of the health insurance programs in the United States and 70 percent of the HMO's in the United States already providing reproductive services, as well as legal abortions. You are not really preventing taxpayer money from being used, not at all. If their salary is used to pay for abortion, that is taxpayer money. What you are doing is--you think that is what you are accomplishing, but you are not.…”