Good news on health care reform

By Jennifer J. Foster

There is some good news tonight on the health care reform front.

From the Associated Press:

Lawmakers have amended a sweeping health overhaul bill to ensure it does not require coverage of abortions.

The anti-abortion measure was approved late Thursday in the House Energy and Commerce Committee as conservative Democrats banded with Republicans to support it.

The amendment says health care overhaul legislation moving through Congress may not impose requirements for coverage of abortion, except in cases where a woman’s life is endangered or her pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.

Abortion-rights advocates have said that they have NO IDEA where pro-lifers would get this idea that sweeping health care reform might open the door to government-funded abortions.

I’ll tell you where they get the idea: Because the liberal Democrats leading the health care reform efforts have refused to explicitly exclude abortion coverage from the bill.

That’s important, because the leading reform bill moving through Congress would “kick the can” down the road on specific coverage decisions. A committee would be charged with deciding what would and would not be covered under the public health insurance option.

So, no, the bill doesn’t currently say that abortions must be covered. But until tonight in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, it didn’t say that it couldn’t, either.

I consider this development a big step forward for the bill itself. I don’t understand how abortion-rights advocates can say on one hand that they believe the decision about whether to seek abortions should be a private one and then, on the other hand, expect millions of Americans who have moral objections to abortion to pay for them.

Way to go, conservative Democrats.

This seems like an opportune time to mention once again an organization called Democrats for Life. Yes, they exist, and they are more numerous than you probably think.

Check them out.

Democrats are fond of saying that Republicans have fallen out of touch with mainstream America on economic issues.

That may be true. But don’t be fooled by their apparently-innocuous sound bites: Liberal Democrats who oppose from their perches in Washington just about any conceivable state abortion restriction are out of touch with mainstream America on those policies.

That is the plain, unvarnished, incontrovertible truth.

‘Cash for clunkers’ cashed out?

By Jennifer J. Foster

There is news tonight about Uncle Sam’s so-called “Cash for Clunkers” program.

You remember hearing about “Cash for Clunkers.“ From CNN Money:

Under the plan, vehicles purchased after July 1 will be eligible for refund vouchers worth $3,500 to $4,500 on traded-in gas guzzlers. The trade-in vehicle has to get combined city and highway fuel economy ratings of 18 miles per gallon or less.

The program, created by Congress to spur sales and help the struggling auto industry, is intended to take low-mileage cars off the road and spur new car sales for U.S. automakers.

OK. So, Congress put $1 billion—yes, with a B—into the program and expected that it would last a little more than three months.

Well, here’s the news: 

The federal government may suspend its $1 billion Cash for Clunkers program after less than a week over concerns that the plan may have already burned through its funds, according to congressional sources ...

The Department of Transportation, which runs the program, wants to sort out how much of the plan’s funds it has already committed.

Here’s the kicker:

Cash for Clunkers officially launched less than a week ago.

This begs a bunch of questions.

Did Congress monumentally underestimate the amount of money needed for the program, is it just wildly more popular than anyone expected or ... is there a whole lotta wastin’ goin’ on?

Are we going to get data on the new cars that have replaced the clunkers—i.e., is someone from the government going to have some helpful numbers for us about how this program has effectively shrunk America’s carbon auto footprint?

Can we assume that the “spur” to the auto industry Congress hoped to create with this program will be as short-lived as the program itself?

What do you think?

Wadley factory update

By Jennifer J. Foster

I know many of you are following the developments surrounding the Meadowcraft furniture factories in Wadley and Selma, Ala.

Opelika-Auburn News reporter Amy Weaver has some late information for you on the status of the plants—and the hundreds of jobs that hang in the balance.

The bottom line: The Selma plant could be separated from and sold without its counterpart in Wadley, saving some jobs in Alabama.

Click here to read Amy’s story.

See also:

For more background, see Meadowcraft Jobs on the Line in Wadley & Selma, from LeftinAlabama.com. 

This week’s column

By Jennifer J. Foster

In case you missed it in Saturday’s print edition of the Opelika-Auburn News, my most recent column is now available online. Check it out:

This health care reform not what nation ordered

Wanna know why Americans are getting squeamish about health care reform as they’re learning the details?

It’s because it’s not what they were promised.

Can’t we all just get along?

By Jennifer J. Foster

Just when you thought the saga surrounding the Harvard professor arrested in Cambridge, Mass., couldn’t get any more disconcerting ...

From FoxNews.com:

President Obama’s highly anticipated sit-down with Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. over some brews is expected to take place early this week, administration officials said Sunday.

INCREDULITY ALERT: No, that isn’t a figure of speech ... yes, the president of the United States really did invite a local cop and the man he arrested over to the White House for a beer ... or some beers, depending on the story you read. END INCREDULITY ALERT

Obama extended the invitation Friday in phone calls to the two men as he tried to calm a furor over racial profiling and his comments this week that the police “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates. He invited both to share a beer.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told FOX News on Sunday that he isn’t sure whether the meeting has been scheduled but added that the White House is hopeful it will occur “in the next several days.“

“And it’s our hope that, as the president said, this can be part of a teachable moment, that we can create a better communication and a dialogue between communities and police and help everyone do their job a little bit better,“ he said. “And it’s our hope that soon Professor Gates and Sgt. Crowley can sit at the White House and talk about some of these issues and have a beer with the president.“

... Obama will try to broker the peace between Crowley, whose supporters say he was unfairly maligned by the president’s comments for doing his job, and Gates, whose backers say he was a victim of racial profiling.

Good. Grief.

And if this isn’t enough, we even have the helpful knowledge that Dr. Gates is a fan of Red Stripe and Beck’s beers.

I’m just wondering ... if the president is expecting this to be a “teachable moment.“ who’s going to be getting the lesson—the person charged with having “acted stupidly,“ or the person who made the charge itself?

It is incredible to me, absolutely astounding, that the president of the United States is going to be spending time this week personally involved in tamping down fury over a local issue. And in the White House, to boot.

Good thing he doesn’t have anything pressing on his plate.

If only the president had kept his response short and vanilla on Wednesday night. If only ... if only he hadn’t “acted stupidly.“ He could be spending time working on ... oh, I don’t know ... health care reform.