Herb Kohl Votes Against Nelson-Hatch Amendment

Herb Kohl, you have a problem.

From the Associated Press:

The Senate on Tuesday rejected an effort by abortion opponents to tighten restrictions in the health care overhaul bill on taxpayer dollars for the procedure, but it was unlikely to be the last word on the divisive issue.

By a vote of 54-45, the Senate sidetracked an amendment by Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah that would ban any insurance plan getting taxpayer dollars from offering abortion coverage. The restrictions mirrored provisions in the House-passed health care bill.

The Senate bill currently allows insurance plans to cover abortions, but requires that they can only be paid for with private money. The legislation calls for insurance plans that would receive federal subsidies in a new insurance marketplace to strictly separate public funds from private dollars that would be used to pay for abortion.

...The Senate vote -- hailed as a victory by abortion rights supporters -- could complicate prospects for President Barack Obama's health overhaul.

This could get messy for Herb.

From LifeNetNews:

On September 2, 2009 at Marquette University Law School's "On the Issues with Mike Gousha," Kohl responded to a Marquette alumnus who asked him directly if he would vote against abortion in the health care bill, Kohl responded, "categorically yes".

Dan Zeidler, a 1969 Marquette grad and pro-life activist asked Senator Kohl: "I do not want health care to be used as a vehicle to expand abortion access. lt is very clear, very clear, that many in the congress want to do that, many from your party. Will you vote against any abortion mandates? Will you explicitly exclude them from any health care reform bill?"

Kohl responded: "I want to say, but it's complicated, but I want to say categorically yes. I agree with you. We should not be using health care reform to provide government access to abortion. I hear what you say. And I would hope that people from whatever party won't try and go down that road and put into a bill in the dead of night and then, lo and behold, wake up the next morning and something that shouldn't have happened did happen. We should not do that."

If Kohl is so adamantly against using health care reform as an opportunity to grant government access to abortion, then why did he vote to table Bill Nelson's amendment, in effect killing it?

Here's the roll call.

Naturally, the fiercely pro-abortion Russ Feingold voted to kill Nelson Amdt. No. 2962. But what's the deal with Herb?

I guess this should guarantee that Kohl will not vote to pass government-run health care.

DAN ZEIDLER: Will you vote against any abortion mandates? Will you explicitly exclude them from any health care reform bill?

HERB KOHL: I want to say, but it's complicated, but I want to say categorically yes. I agree with you. We should not be using health care reform to provide government access to abortion. I hear what you say. And I would hope that people from whatever party won't try and go down that road and put into a bill in the dead of night and then, lo and behold, wake up the next morning and something that shouldn't have happened did happen. We should not do that.

It appears that Kohl is a liar.