It took another marathon session but at 2:00 this morning the Senate finally confirmed Rep. Tom Price to be the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The vote, strictly along party lines (with one exception), was 52-47.
Rep. Price was the latest, but undoubtedly not the last, prolife nominee to be put through the meatgrinder by pro-abortion Senate Democrats.
As NRL News Today, on Thursday Republicans overcame a filibuster by a vote of 51-48, with not a single Democrat voting for the seven-term Congressman from Georgia’s 6th Congressional District and orthopedic surgeon. Yesterday Democrats expressed their opposition ahead of the vote in “apocalyptic terms,” to quote the Washington Post.
Senate Republicans argued that Price was the best candidate to lead a department with 80,000 employees whose annual budget is close to $1 trillion. Pro-life Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that Rep. Price “can help bring stability to the health-care markets Obamacare has harmed. He can bring relief to families that Obamacare has hurt.”
He added Price “doesn’t just understand health-care policy as a policymaker, though he does deeply. He also understands it as a practicing physician.”
Price will “have significant power with which to shape the regulations that help make the health care system function,” according to Tamar Hallerman. “His close relationship with Speaker Paul Ryan and other House Republicans will also make him invaluable to Trump as he looks to build support for an Obamacare replacement plan.”
Pro-lifers admired Price for his outstanding record and for his passion.
Throughout his tenure in the United States House of Representatives, which began in 2005, Rep. Price compiled a 100% pro-life voting record. He is a co-sponsor of major pro-life legislation, including the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (which would protect from abortion unborn children at 20 weeks fetal age or later, who are capable of feeling pain), and the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (which would prevent any level of government from discriminating against health care providers who decline to participate in abortions, and would counter regulatory mandates that violate the religious or moral convictions of those who purchase or provide health insurance).
Pep. Price has also been a leader on healthcare, proposing reforms that would dismantle Obamacare’s disastrous rationing mechanisms.
Daniel Miller is responsible for nearly all of National Right to Life News' political writing.
With the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, Daniel Miller developed a deep obsession with U.S. politics that has never let go of the political scientist. Whether it's the election of Joe Biden, the midterm elections in Congress, the abortion rights debate in the Supreme Court or the mudslinging in the primaries - Daniel Miller is happy to stay up late for you.
Daniel was born and raised in New York. After living in China, working for a news agency and another stint at a major news network, he now lives in Arizona with his two daughters.
