Oopsie... 'House G.O.P. Hesitates on Birth Control Fight' - NYT [View all]

[WillyT]

House G.O.P. Hesitates on Birth Control Fight
By ROBERT PEAR - NYT
Published: March 16, 2012

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WASHINGTON — House Republicans, unsure how to proceed, have slowed their efforts to overturn a federal rule requiring employers, including religious institutions, to provide female employees with free health insurance coverage for contraceptives. While most House Republicans still support legislation to broaden the exemption for religious employers, House Republican leaders are carefully reviewing their options on the issue, which Democrats used to political advantage in the Senate.

The goal of House Republicans has not changed, they said, but they worry about further alienating women in this year’s elections. In a speech on the House floor on Feb. 8, Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, vowed to block the Obama administration rule because, he said, it would force many religious employers to violate their religious beliefs and moral convictions.

“This attack by the federal government on religious freedom in our country must not stand and will not stand,” Mr. Boehner said then. The Energy and Commerce Committee is “taking the lead” in writing legislation to overturn the president’s policy, Mr. Boehner said then.

On the same day, Representative Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan and chairman of the committee, said, “I plan to move quickly” on legislation. But five weeks later, no legislation is in sight. Aides to Mr. Upton said the decision about how to proceed was in the hands of the speaker. “It’s been kicked up to the leadership,” a committee member said. “They want a cooling-off period.”

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More: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/us/politics/house-republicans-hesitate-on-birth-control-mandate.html?_r=1&ref=us