He was that highly principled Congressman (one of 11) who just couldn’t bring himself to vote for the multi-trillion dollar ObamaCare bill. Not because he didn’t like all of the bureaucracy, added taxes and unconstitutional elements built into it. No. He was against it – “before he was for it” – because he was worried it opened the door to federal funding of abortion.
Bart Stupak (D-Mich.)...
He and his men stood strong in breach – turning away the evil that the bill was sure to bring. Onslaught after onslaught was turned away. “Leading a revolt against President Barack Obama’s health care legislation over abortion [was for him] a ‘living hell.’”
Then, just as it looked like President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) might see their efforts stall, Stupak rode to the rescue – for them. Leading the Stupak 11, the Michigan Democrat’s decision to support ObamaCare made all the difference, propelling Team Obama over the necessary 216-vote threshold for final passage.
By now, we all know – after hearing it right from the horses’ mouths – that Stupak & Co. struck a deal. Despite pressure from important Democratic special interest groups and powerful party leaders (like Pelosi), the president acquiesced to the Dirty Almost Dozen’s demands and – after the bill’s passage – signed an executive order reaffirming a ban on federal funding of abortions.
Today, however, we learned the real truth.
Stupak and his squad were never in it for principle. They were in it for themselves.So how many pieces of silver do the 11 want for their moral stand? $4.7 billion (or an average of $429 million worth of earmark requests for each lawmaker).
The Sunlight Foundation uncovered the Gang of 11’s payoff requests, including Stupak’s “requested $578 million [plus] in earmarks, including $125 million for a replacement lock on the Sault Ste. Marie, $25.6 million to build a federal courthouse in Marquette, Mich., $15 million to repaint the Mackinac Bridge and $800,000 to preserve the Quincy Mining Company smelter near Hancock in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.”
Stupak's office said “there's absolutely no link between the earmarks and the health care bill's passage.”
No…no link at all.
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