The House Appropriations subcommittee for financial services advanced a fiscal year 2022 spending bill Thursday that excludes a policy that has been in place for 45 years that blocks federal funds from being used to pay for abortions in most cases, a measure President Joe Biden pledged during his campaign he would overturn.
“There are also several controversial policy changes included in the bills, such as allowing tax dollars to fund abortions and removing the prohibition on Federal Employee Health Benefits funding for abortions,” said Arkansas Republican Rep. Steven Womack.
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Biden’s 2022 budget excluded the Hyde Amendment, a long-standing political “rider” attached annually since 1976 to government spending bills that bans federal funding from being used to cover the cost of abortions, with exceptions for cases of rape, incest, or if the pregnancy will endanger the woman’s life.
State Medicaid programs, which are jointly funded by the federal government, can provide abortion coverage if they choose, but they have to rely on their own revenues. Currently, 16 states use their own funds to provide abortion coverage to Medicaid beneficiaries. The rider to ban federal coverage for abortions also restricts funding under the Indian Health Service, Medicare, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Womack suggested that the full committee might be willing to “reach a bipartisan and bicameral agreement on spending” and maintain the Hyde Amendment in the spending package.
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Biden campaigned on the promise that he would repeal the Hyde Amendment when he gained office, a promise that progressives applauded, arguing that the ban disproportionately affects poor women and people of color. Previously, Biden was a supporter of the amendment, but he reversed his position during the 2020 election and joined fellow Democrats campaigning for president in calls for repealing the ban.
The bill will be considered in the full appropriations committee. It is only one of 12 spending bills that must go through the subcommittees before making it to the full House floor for a vote. Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat, said last month that the spending bills “will be on the floor in July.” However, the Senate is expected to take longer to debate, amend, and approve the bills given the need for a 60-vote threshold needed for passage. Congress will have to act before the end of September in order to avoid a government shutdown.
