Sen. Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, is trying to resolve a dispute over the Hyde Amendment that has effectively blocked the confirmation of Loretta Lynch to be attorney general but Democrats are rejecting his latest offer.
“For the last several weeks, we have been trying to get unstuck on an important piece of legislation that would combat modern-day slavery,” said Cornyn on the Senate floor. The GOP majority will not allow a vote on Lynch until Cornyn’s human trafficking bill passes - with the Hyde language prohibiting federal funds for abortions.
“The very same Hyde-type provision that was contained in the bill that we voted on last night is contained in the amendment we're going to vote on tomorrow on the Senate floor,” said Cornyn. “In an effort to try to get us unstuck, in order to try to catch a wave based on what we're doing generally here in the Senate – finally being productive and making things work – I have tried to take something that virtually all Democrats have voted for previously and to put that in the provision in order to eliminate their cause for concern.”
A vote is scheduled for Wednesday on a procedural motion to break the filibuster on the human trafficking bill. Democrats said Wednesday they would continue to oppose the bill, even with Cornyn’s modification that would use taxpayer funds instead of fees collected from traffickers to help victims.
The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funds from being used for abortions and reproductive rights supporters said the bill expanded the reach of the amendment by applying it to non-taxpayer funds. Democrats consider Cornyn’s offer a bookkeeping maneuver that does not change the bill.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said that the bill with the Hyde Amendment that the Senate agreed to on a Medicare fix of doctor pay rates was “very different than the trafficking bill that is now on the Senate agenda.” The trafficking bill, she said, “for the very first time ever uses non-taxpayer dollars, non-taxpayer dollars and applies Hyde to them. That is a bridge we are not going to allow to be crossed.”
“And I understand Senator Cornyn is offering a new proposal. So you know, we have offered him nine proposals at this point and they have rejected every single one of them. So we are trying to work our way through this. But I will tell you at the end of the day, we will not accept language that simply hides the Hyde,” said Murray.
“If the Hyde language is in it and is extended for the first time ever to non-taxpayer dollars, that is a non-starter for all of us.”