Manchin conditions spending vote on saving Hyde Amendment

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he will not vote for the proposed multi-trillion-dollar spending bill unless it restores the pro-life Hyde Amendment. Progressive House members responded by saying most Americans don’t support the amendment.

On Sunday’s “State of the Union,” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., about Manchin’s comments. “The Hyde Amendment is something that the majority of the country does not support,” she responded.

Jayapal, chair of the House Progressive Caucus, has said she has enough votes to kill President Biden’s proposed $3.5 trillion spending bill if it does not include progressive priorities. Jayapal is an outspoken supporter of abortion. During a House Oversight Committee hearing last week, she shared the story of her own abortion, as did Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.

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However, polls consistently show that Americans oppose forcing taxpayers to fund abortion-on-demand. A strong majority of all Americans, including two-thirds of registered independents and 31 percent of Democrats, oppose federal funding of abortion, according to the most recent Marist/Knights of Columbus poll released in January. Even stronger majorities, 77 percent of Americans and 55 percent of Democrats, oppose taxpayer funding for abortions overseas.

“Surveys taken in the past three years debunk much of what the left believes, not just about public support for government-funded abortions but also about how attitudes on that issue intersect with gender, class and reproductive freedom,” William Saletan of “Slate” wrote in 2019, citing a series of other polls that come to the same conclusion.

Polls consistently show that Americans support limits on abortion, including the time it may be performed, the conditions under which abortion should be legal and who pays for it. Years of polling data show that the Hyde Amendment and other policies that protect taxpayers against having to pay for most elective abortions have strong and steady support across political parties.

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice