With all the hoohah going on about the upcoming Conclave, don’t forget that all “Church”, like politics, is local.
In these USA we are facing unprecedented attacks on our religious freedom. The Obama Administration, through Obamatax and the HHS Mandate, is eroding our religious liberty. We have to protect the rights of all who, in their conscience, cannot give in to the evil things the Obama Administration is trying to force on believers. The so-called “compromises” the Administration has feigned to offer are really no compromises at all. We have to stay focused and alert. Our 1st Amendment rights (and 2nd Amendment!) are under attack.
Via the Cardinal Newman Society (check our their useful feed on the side bar of this blog!):
Republican House Members Introduce Conscience Protection Act
March 5, 2013Three Republican members of Congress, along with 47 co-sponsors, have announced a legislative effort to protect conscience rights. House Representatives Diane Black (R-TN), Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), and John Fleming, M.D. (R-LA) hosted a press conference this morning to introduce the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (NCCRA). According to a press release, the legislation is designed to protect American’s First Amendment rights and prevent the administration’s assault on religious freedom.
“We have come together to act to protect Americans’ most basic rights – our rights of conscience and religious freedom,” Representative Fortenberry told The Cardinal Newman Society. “The bill simply restores the basic rights in health care that were widely accepted before the implementation of the new health care law.”
[…]
Read the rest there.
I received an SMS from the USCCB about this.
The US Bishops are asking us to call Washington and support HR 940. Read about it HERE.
Latest Title: To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to protect rights of conscience with regard to requirements for coverage of specific items and services, to amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit certain abortion-related discrimination in governmental activities, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Black, Diane [TN-6] (introduced 3/4/2013) Cosponsors (50)
Latest Major Action: 3/4/2013 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
I have the numbers of my US Senators and the Congressman for this district written down and nearby. Do you know who your Representative is? Your Senators?
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Thank you, Father, for reminding me to look up my local reps. Since we moved out to NJ, (I have never lived outside of NYS in my 53 years) I have no idea who my senator or congress folk are. I will look it up post haste.
Paul Ryan and Ron Johnson will vote for it.
Just emailed my Rep. in the House. I simply asked him if he’ll support the bill, noting that
upwards of 50 of his colleagues have already done so. I live in a blue, blue city in an otherwise
red state, so it’ll be interesting to read what I’m expecting to be a rationalization for his lack
of support.
I recall that during the 2008 election, then-candidate Obama promised “robust conscience
protections” for healthcare workers. If this bill makes it to his desk, I’ll be interested to hear
how he explains how a veto fulfills that promise.
I tried to look up the bill but the website says:
“The text of H.R.940 has not yet been received from GPO
Bills are generally sent to the Library of Congress from the Government Printing Office a day or two after they are introduced on the floor of the House or Senate. Delays can occur when there are a large number of bills to prepare or when a very large bill has to be printed.”
I will call my House member who I am sure will vote for it. I am sure my Republican Senator will also vote for it –but–we will see if Harry Reid even allows it to come to the Senate floor. If it has a chance of passing the Senate he will probably bury it in a committee so Obama will not be faced with the problem. Of course Obama may take great joy in vetoing the bill.
My Democrat Senator will probably not vote for it. If she gets too many calls asking her to vote for the bill she may stop answering the phones(all of them)-like she did for the Obamacare vote.
This afternoon, I called my congressman Keith Ellison, fresh from off his televised dispute with Sean Hannity. I requested that he support and co-sponsor this bill in the house. The person answering the phone said he would deliver the message. I am not at all optimistic that I can count on Congressman Ellison in this support.
You can track the bill at the following website.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr940
It’s important to support this bill, and keep getting names added to the list, bu it’s unlikely to go anywhere. This last election certainly changed where the House R’s are likely to go on things like this after the wipeout on the Presidential level. I am not saying I like it, but it’s reality.
People like Ros-Lehtinen, etc are now on record signing briefs in support of ‘homosexual marriage’ where they had always opposed this before. (This is significant in the fact she is a Chairman emeritus of Foreign Affairs and was extended member of the Leadership team when she was chair.)
Too many Republican members of congress are of the opinion that the generational change in the electorate means they must simply shift on some positions. Many want to, but feel constrained because of their electorate.
In fact, in many ways, this bill is very much a bill which will indicate the strength of our actual base in the House. That’s why it’s important to get members on.
The Bishops may want a vote on it, but members certainly do not. They just want to wait for the Court’s decisions and to move on. That’s where we are now at politically, whether we like it or not.
Sad but true…my Representive is Tom Reed. Republican and I have thought a devout Catholic. I would have expected him to be a cosponsor of this bill, but he’s not on the list. We unfortunately have the city of Ithaca in our district, a haven of progressives in an otherwise dark Red district who have been putting lots of pressure on him. I hope he remains firm, but, I am not encouraged about what I am hearing lately. Also when we went down for the Right to Life march he was no where about. Sad. 8-(
I’m afraid I must agree that this bill is merely symbolic. It will never be introduced in the Senate. If the courts do not prevent the HHS mandate from going into effect we will be headed to a rapid path of persecution and schism. Persecution become some Christians will be headed to jail or bankruptcy for their beliefs. Schism because, as did all but one of the bishops of England when called upon to support that heretic Tudor, some bishops will accommodate evil rather than stand up to it and face prison.
As it says in the old curse, we are living in interesting times, and they are going to get more interesting.
A cautionary note: More often than not, in recent decades, the effect of legislation passed has been essentially opposite to the purpose declared in the name of the bill. Shake hands, but count your fingers afterward.