Mental Gymnastics and the President’s Speech

Gary Palmer, president of the Alabama Policy Institute, reminds us it’s not what’s in the bills being considered in Congress that matters, but what’s not in the bills:

For example, will the House bill provide health care for illegal aliens?

“Obama’s claim that the health care reform bill does not include a provisionfor government health benefits to illegal aliens is only half the story. The fact is every effort by Republican congressmen to amend the bill to require documentation of legal residency and ensure that no one obtains coverage illegally has been rejected by the Democrats.”

Now, I don’t think that money we spent on health care for illegals is all that important in the big scheme of how screwed-up health policy is. But President Obama’s failure to recognize the fact that Palmer mentions does not inspire confidence in his intellectual honesty.

Neither do his comments on abortion, which have always been a sticking point in Congress and with a large percentage of the American people:

Obama also said claims that the bill will allow federal funds to be used to pay for abortions is false. He said, “No federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” Again, that is only true in the sense that the bill does not specifically mandate funding for abortions. Time Magazine and the Associated Press have both pointed out that abortions will be covered through federal subsidies to cover the cost of insurance coverage for abortions. Moreover, every attempt to amend the health care reform bill to specifically prohibit federal funding of abortions has been rejected.

Congress has long banned the use of federal money to Medicaid programs through the Hyde Amendment. It’s also taken other steps to restrict the involvement of the federal government in abortion, such as banning abortions in military facilities. (Some of these other measures may have been undone in recent years.)

Regardless of what one thinks of abortion, again, the president isn’t telling the whole truth.

Cross-posted from State House Call.