Joe Manchin Dictates Terms to Democrats: Spending Bills Can’t Fund Abortions

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has put congressional Democrats’ plans to expand Medicaid on ice by affirming that the massive spending bill funding President Joe Biden’s economic agenda must include the Hyde Amendment to gain his support.

Manchin on Wednesday told National Review that the amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortion, must be included in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill or he won’t vote for it.

“Yeah, we’re not taking the Hyde amendment off. Hyde’s going to be on,” Manchin said.

“That’s dead on arrival if that’s gone,” he added.

House Democrats have added a new Medicaid-like program to their version of the reconciliation bill. The program would provide government health insurance for low-income residents of the 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. But the text of the legislation currently lacks the Hyde Amendment, which guarantees that federal programs do not fund abortions.