On Saturday, the House of Representatives finally passed a healthcare reform bill, getting by with a slim 220-215 margin. While this is the first healthcare bill to successfully pass under the Obama administration, the reasons are not what you might think. The real story of this bill is the Stupak Amendment, a section added as a compromise for the Democrats against it, who had found it impossible to rally their party base to their cause. Finally, they resorted to this amendment to lock in their victory. This modification, proposed by Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) would not allow any public money or any companies receiving government money to cover abortions. This locked up the votes of an additional 64 “blue dog” democrats, barely giving the margin they needed for victory.

What is disturbing about all of this is that not only has an expensive healthcare bill, one that will add trillions to the deficit and likely put major insurance companies out of business, been passed, but now Democratic leaders are pledging to remove the only moderate, decent aspect of this bill: the Stupak Amendment. House Democratic leader Debbie Shultz (D- Florida) stated that she is “confident that when [the bill] comes back from the conference committee that the language won’t be there.” The Democratic leadership will likely try to strip the bill of the amendment, before it is sent to the Senate for consideration.

This move represents a betrayal of the American people and the moderate Democrats on the part of Democratic Party leadership. The only way the bill could get enough support to be passed in the House in the first place was by adding the Stupak Amendment. Now that Democratic votes have been manipulated, it is likely that the radical leaders of the party will try to push through this ridiculous piece of legislation without any concessions or attempts at compromises whatsoever. This may cost the Democratic leadership in the long run, especially if the omission of this amendment costs the bill its Democratic support in the Senate.