FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—After pro-life leaders rejected President Donald Trump’s admonition to be “a little bit flexible” on the Hyde Amendment, some White House officials are looking to walk back that statement, three sources familiar with the administration’s thinking told The Daily Signal.
Many pro-life leaders objected to the call to be flexible on Hyde, which bans taxpayer-funded abortion, and the administration has received their message, the sources said.
One White House official disputed the idea that the administration is walking Trump’s comment back, but said it is rather clarifying it. The president has delivered the pro-life movement its biggest win in history with the overturn of Roe v Wade, the official said.
The Hyde Amendment is longstanding policy prohibiting funding of elective abortions in federal health care spending.
Trump told House Republicans at their Members Retreat Tuesday they need to be a “little bit flexible on Hyde” when making a deal with Democrats on health care. Many Republicans in Congress have said they will not support a health care deal without the policy in place to prevent federal subsidies from funding abortion coverage in health plans.
When asked about the president’s statement on Hyde at Wednesday’s briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt also clarified the president’s comments.
“The president did not change the administration’s policy,” Leavitt said at a press briefing on Wednesday. “It was President Trump who signed an executive order protecting the Hyde Amendment. It’s the Trump administration that has taken multiple actions on various fronts to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not funding the practice of abortion.”
Trump signed an executive order titled “Reinforcing the Hyde Amendment” in his fourth day in office, which ends “the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.”
“What the president was saying yesterday was Republicans, and frankly Democrats, too, need to show a little bit more flexibility so we can actually get something done with respect to the issue of health care,” Leavitt continued.
After the president’s statement on Hyde, elected officials and pro-life leaders said the policy was a red line for them.
“We are not going to change the standard that we’re not going to use taxpayer funding for abortion,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said. “I’m just not going to allow that to happen.”
“To suggest Republicans should be ‘flexible’ is an abandonment of this decades-long commitment,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of leading pro-life group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. “If Republicans abandon Hyde, they are sure to lose this November.”
One source reported hearing from the administration that it has been “inundated” with messages from the pro-life community in support of Hyde.
A source familiar with the White House’s thinking says that now that the administration has received the message that pro-lifers will not compromise on Hyde, the pro-life movement is more concerned about the Senate compromising on the policy.
On Thursday, 17 House Republicans joined Democrats to pass a three-year extension on Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies which do not include Hyde protections against abortion funding. Pro-lifers are concerned that a few Senate Republicans will break ranks to pass a health care deal without Hyde protections.
“We’ve got to hit the Senate with everything we’ve got and make them know that we’re going to be strong and be firm on this issue,” a pro-life movement leader said.
