Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508040052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The 215-206 vote was a fresh show of strength for the religious right in the GOP-controlled House. It came after anguished debate in which several female lawmakers angrily denounced the restriction.
``This bill sends rape victims a very clear message: You must have your rapist's baby,'' said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. ``It tells victims of incest: You must have your father's child.''
Supporters said the issue was the rights of states - and of the unborn. ``I'm certainly against violence against women,'' said Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill. ``I'm also against violence against unborn children. What crime has the unborn child committed?''
Critics of the proposal said that in 1994, Medicaid paid for only two abortions in cases in which the woman had been victimized by rape or incest.
All of Virginia's Democratic representatives voted against changing the current abortion policy; all of the state's Republicans voted for the change except Herbert Bateman of Newport News, who did not vote.
The vote came as lawmakers worked in a marathon session to complete action on a bill that cuts $9.3 billion from social programs for the next fiscal year and recasts the government in a more conservative image.
Tempers flared as debate wore on. ``The gentleman is out of order,'' the presiding officer, Rep. Robert Walker, R-Pa., told Democratic Rep. George Miller of California, who spoke angrily in opposition to one proposal long after his allotted time had expired.
``This law is out of order,'' Miller retorted, and in the furor, Walker's gavel broke.
President Clinton, who has threatened a veto, attacked the measure during the day, saying its cuts would deny 180,000 youngsters a place in Head Start and cut off student loans, worker training and federal education assistance to hundreds of thousands of recipients.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich met with several GOP lawmakers, part of a coordinated effort by the leadership to persuade moderates and conservatives to look beyond provisions they oppose and vote for passage to further the party's overriding goal of a balanced budget.
On other contentious issues as the day gave way to evening, the House:
Rejected, on a vote of 286-136, a bid to strip the Corporation for Public Broadcasting of its federal subsidy beginning in the 1998 fiscal year.
Refused, on a 367-53 vote, to resurrect a $1 billion program for helping the poor pay their utility bills. The program would be killed by the legislation, and Rep. Peter Blute, R-Mass., proposed cutting all other accounts by 2 percent to find the funds necessary to renew it.
Approved, on a vote of 232-187, the provision that sparked Miller's anger. It would restrict lobbying activities on the part of nonprofit groups receiving federal grants. On a second provision backed by anti-abortion groups, the House agreed to protect federal funds for medical schools, even if they refuse to teach abortion techniques to their students.
That provision, coupled with the one on Medicaid funding for rape and incest, demonstrated anew the strength of anti-abortion forces in the House, under Republican control for the first time in 40 years.
In all, the measure for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Resources and Education provides for so-called discretionary funding of $60.7 billion for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, a cut of $9.3 billion from this year's spending.
by CNB