Hyde Or Else
“If you’re not willing to stand up to the left on abortion, you can’t be trusted on anything else.” — J.D. Vance, February 18, 2022.
Yesterday, speaking to House Republicans, President Trump told them, “You've got to be a little flexible on Hyde.”
“Hyde” is the Hyde Amendment, named for the late pro-life Congressman Henry Hyde. The statutory language prohibits taxpayer funding of abortions except in cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother. There is no flexibility on the Hyde Amendment. You either support taxpayer-funded abortions or you do not.
Senator Chuck Schumer insists that, to get a deal that preserves healthcare subsidies, the GOP must give up the Hyde Amendment. Republicans are increasingly willing to give Schumer almost everything he wants, but they will not give up the Hyde Amendment.
President Trump is now suggesting Republicans give up the Hyde Amendment. If they do, it will be a sellout of the barest minimum that pro-lifers have ever agreed to.
Put another way, the President and his Secretary of Health and Human Services want to give government welfare dollars directly to Americans, but restrict them from buying soft drinks and junk food, just not from directly killing their children.
