Joe Manchin Now Also Stands Between Democrats and Their Pro-Abortion Hopes

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn’t happy, as per usual, but this time it’s because she’s part of what she called “one of the first pro-choice Democratic majorities” and yet, despite this, she and her fellow leftist radicals can’t get a pro-abortion bill passed because, once again, one man is standing in their way.

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And he’s a Democrat.

West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin is all that’s stopping Democrats from tossing out the Hyde Amendment, an amendment to the massive spending bill that stops Medicaid and other federal health programs from being used to help pay for abortions.

Joe Manchin
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

According to The Hill, Manchin’s drawn a hard-line about the abortion issue that he will not cross:

In recent days, Manchin has signaled he would not support the package without the amendment, which bans the use of federal funds for abortions in most cases and has been included in annual government funding bills since it was introduced by then-Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) in the 1970s.

Manchin, who has long supported the amendment, has called the provision “a red line” and said his party’s spending plan would be “dead on arrival” if it isn’t included.

It’s just one more hurdle faced by a Democrat-controlled Senate. They would like to pass this spending bill through using reconciliation, which would allow them to bypass the GOP filibuster, but they can’t do that when their own party won’t even unite. For this to pass, there can be no nay-sayers among their own, and Manchin, as well as Arizona Democrat Senator Kyrsten Sinema, continue to be the hurdles the Democrats can’t overcome.

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However, within the Democrats, Manchin alone voted alongside Republicans against the tossing out of the Hyde Amendment.

This has angered their fellow Democrats, including AOC.

“This is one of the first pro-choice Democratic majorities that we’ve elected, and so the majority of the House firmly believes in protecting a woman’s right to choose,” she said according to The Hill.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

“We have made too much progress as a society, and the way that we think about human rights to allow the Hyde amendment to remain in the reconciliation bill,” said New York Rep. Mondaire Jones.

Their complaints seem to fall on deaf ears. Democrats in Congress would like to see this bill passed within the next few weeks, but if they’re hoping it passes with the abortion restrictions on the cutting room floor, then they’re out of luck.

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