Nancy Pelois consulted with a Catholic cardinal in Rome on anti-abortion amendment! [View All]

[Better Believe It]

So we need Rome's approval for any health care legislation we might pass?




For healthcare bill, Pelosi had to leave Left Coast behind
The House speaker built a majority one compromise at a time, yielding on liberal touchstones including abortion
By Faye Fiore and Richard Simon
November 9, 2009

Excerpt:

Earlier, Democrats -- who had included what they considered a strict ban in their original proposals -- thought they could work out a modest compromise. But when that effort failed, Pelosi gave way.

She summoned antiabortion Democrats to her ornate Capitol office. She conferred with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to be sure the new restrictions were acceptable. She even consulted by telephone with a cardinal in Rome.

Then, Pelosi convened the most wrenching meeting of all: to inform the Pro-Choice Caucus, her longtime liberal colleagues, of the deal she had struck.

Pausing only to order in cheeseburgers all around, she revealed that she would allow a floor vote on restrictions that many liberals believed went beyond present law -- which applies mostly to Medicaid recipients and to workers who receive health benefits through the federal government.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-na-pelosi9-2009nov09,0,3266717,full.story