James Moran: “This is a good bill, but I do have a problem with it. The problem is with the rule. The rule should not have made in…”

“This is a good bill, but I do have a problem with it. The problem is with the rule. The rule should not have made in order the Weldon amendment, because we had a better bill coming out than might pass if we include the Weldon amendment. This is a time when we need to come together as a Nation. We should not be advancing amendments that are intended to divide us. That is what the Weldon amendment would do. It would reverse a vote on the full Committee on Appropriations that took place last week, and it took place purely on the substance of the issue. In 1992, the District of Columbia passed a domestic partnership program. We have forbidden them from implementing that program for the last 9 years. All it did was say that the District employees can purchase health insurance at their own expense for a domestic partner. Who qualifies? Well, disabled people and their health care provider, two widows or widowers living together, a grandmother and mother who are jointly raising children, two relatives raising their children together, as well as domestic partners. The amendment today would continue the ban on the use of local funds to implement the Domestic Partnership Act. But no Federal funds are involved. Why are we involved? Why should we be against expanding health care coverage to widows, to children and to unmarried couples?”