Boxer challenges birth control bill
Posted: February 14th, 2012 | Author: Erica Felci | Filed under: Political InsiderSen. Barbara Boxer was on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation today, saying an effort to overturn President Obama’s birth control policy would send the country back into the “medical dark ages.”
The Rancho Mirage Democrat is challenging legislation by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who has introduced an amendment to let an employer deny health services if they conflict with “religious beliefs or moral convictions.”
Federal leaders have been fiercely debating how to balance religious beliefs with health care requirements.
Much of the focus is on Obama’s plan to provide better access to birth control, an effort that initially included full insurance coverage for female employees at faith-based institutions.
Amid controversy, the president on Friday unveiled a compromise plan.
Senate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today that he’ll schedule a vote on Blunt’s amendment. But Boxer clearly won’t be supporting it, saying that Republicans have “just overreached” with the bill.
“This thing is so over the top,” she said of the legislation. “They have lost their way.”
Erica Felci is a reporter for The Desert Sun who writes the weekly Political Insider column.