What do you think Congresional Republicans plan to accomplish in their final days as the ruling party? Pass needed spending authorizations for the federal government for next year? Nope. Propose legislation to balance the budget? Please, don’t make me laugh. No, the number one priority for Republicans in Congress is pandering to their base (and sticking it to the Democrats one last time) with a fetal pain abortion bill:
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While they still can, House Republicans are looking at scheduling a vote next week on a fetal pain abortion bill in a parting shot at incoming majority Democrats and a last bid for loyalty from the GOP’s base of social conservatives.
The measure is tentatively on House GOP leaders’ list of bills to be considered in a lame-duck session before Democrats assume control of Congress. It has no chance of passing the Senate during the waning days of Republican control. But, with Democrats ascending to agenda-setting roles, passage isn’t the point, said one conservative leader. […]
The bill, by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., defines a 20-week-old fetus as a “pain-capable unborn child” – a highly controversial threshold among scientists. It also directs the Health and Human Service Department to develop a brochure stating “that there is substantial evidence that the process of being killed in an abortion will cause the unborn child pain.”
Naturally, this 20 week threshhold for when a fetus can feel pain has little scientific evidence to support it. In fact, a survey by University of California scientists, which reviewed all the published studies on this issue concluded, that a fetus is unlikely to experience pain until its seventh month, or about 29 weeks after conception. Not that this will stop the GOP lawmakers from claiming otherwise, as we all know the level of respect they accord to scientific research that doesn’t fit their pre-conceived notions (or,to be more precise, the agenda of their most rabid supporters).
Of course, this bill is a sham. Even Republicans recognize that. It won’t pass either the House or the Senate, even during the few weeks left to them as the majority party. They simply want to take a cheap shot at the Democrats, and continue their political strategy of division and polarization. Even an election defeat on the scale of the one that ocurred this November 7th can’t make them change their tactics. Not only are they the “Know Nothing” party, and the “Do Nothing” party, they also stand revealed as the “Learn Nothing” party, as well.
