{"id":2030228,"date":"2023-09-13T08:08:08","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T12:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-bill-cassidy-is-the-lefts-useful-idiot-on-abortion\/"},"modified":"2023-09-13T08:20:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T12:20:12","slug":"sen-bill-cassidy-is-the-lefts-useful-idiot-on-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-bill-cassidy-is-the-lefts-useful-idiot-on-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Bill Cassidy is a pawn of the left when it comes to abortion."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsen-bill-cassidy-is-the-lefts-useful-idiot-on-abortion%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2030228&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Every summer,\u2064 Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.,\u200b helps his colleagues celebrate \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cassidy.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/cassidy-announces-june-17-as-national-seersucker-day\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Seersucker Day<\/a>\u201d in the U.S. Senate. Next year, he should think about\u200c adding a new\u200d accessory to his summer sartorial splendor: a\u200b \u201cKick Me\u201d \u2062sign.<\/p>\n<p>That tag accurately describes how Cassidy allowed\u200b the professional left to play him like a fiddle \u200din creating a proposed new federal mandate for abortion leave. Cassidy \u2062says he objects to the new regulation, but he \u2064doth\u200d protest too much\u200b \u2014 because the mandate was in many ways his own doing.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1309476470\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-285b5299be8a2ab0983879f2fd59fd70 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-285b5299be8a2ab0983879f2fd59fd70\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pregnant Worker\u2064 Bill<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The issue \u200drevolves around \u200dthe Pregnant Workers\u200b Fairness Act (PWFA), \u2062added as\u200b a Cassidy-sponsored <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/amendment\/117th-congress\/senate-amendment\/6558\/text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">amendment<\/a> to last December\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/12\/21\/anonymous-gop-aide-epitomizes-the-swampiness-behind-congresss-omnibus-spending-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/congress-passes-massive-covid-relief-omnibus-bill-sending-billions-of-dollars-to-foreign-countries-measure-heads-to-president-trumps-desk\/\" title=\"Congress Passes Massive Covid Relief\/Omnibus Bill Sending Billions of Dollars to Foreign Countries \u2013 Measure Heads to President Trump\u2019s Desk\">omnibus spending bill<\/a><\/a>. Supporters of this amendment said it would give pregnant women\u200d a right \u200bto \u2062reasonable accommodations \u2014 for\u200d instance, more bathroom breaks, or the right to carry water on the job \u2014 so \u200cthey could remain in the \u200bworkforce during and immediately after their pregnancies.<\/p>\n<p>A\u2064 twist occurred when the Equal\u200d Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in releasing <a href=\"https:\/\/public-inspection.federalregister.gov\/2023-17041.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">proposed rules<\/a> implementing the legislation, said it would define abortion as part of \u2063\u201cpregnancy, childbirth, or other related medical conditions\u201d entitled to\u2063 protection under the new statute.<\/p>\n<p>The regulation makes clear that nothing in the new law requires or prohibits\u2063 employers from paying for\u200b abortion \u2064procedures \u2063themselves. (The Cassidy amendment, unlike <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/116\/bills\/hr2694\/BILLS-116hr2694eh.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">earlier versions of the legislation<\/a>, made this fact clear.) It also adds that \u2062nothing in the law or regulations would require employers to provide paid leave in excess of what they already offer through their existing policies.<\/p>\n<p>However, the proposed regulation would effectively\u200c require employers to give \u200btheir <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-bill-cassidy-is-the-lefts-useful-idiot-on-abortion\/\" title=\"Sen. Bill Cassidy is a pawn of the left when it comes to abortion.\">workers leave \u2014 paid vacation time<\/a> if the worker has any \u2063available, or unpaid leave if not \u2014 for an abortion or\u200c treatments or services related to that abortion. Moreover, this\u2063 requirement would extend to entities and organizations with moral or religious objections to abortion; churches and religiously affiliated entities could raise their beliefs in court, but their religious\u2062 affiliation\u2063 would not provide an absolute defense to\u2062 lawsuits from workers or job\u2064 applicants seeking abortions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-282c7c3f6c4601bd48366b562441f868 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-282c7c3f6c4601bd48366b562441f868\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Obvious Regulatory Outcome<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>After the EEOC issued its proposed rule, Cassidy\u2019s\u2063 office put out a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cassidy.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/ranking-member-cassidy-blasts-biden-administration-for-illegally-injecting-abortion-politics-into-enforcement-of-bipartisan-pwfa-law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press release<\/a> attacking the abortion language\u2019s inclusion. But on multiple levels, the senator should have\u2064 seen this \u200dcoming from \u200ba mile away.<\/p>\n<p>First, the Biden administration has perhaps served\u200c as the\u2064 most\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-hhs-secretary-falsely-says-there-is-no-law-dealing-specifically-with-partial-birth-abortion\/\" title=\"Biden\u2019s HHS Secretary Falsely Says There Is \u2018No Law\u2019 Dealing Specifically With Partial Birth Abortion\">pro-abortion administration<\/a> of any \u2062in history, pushing for\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/06\/08\/bidens-budget-gives-states-another-big-reason-not-to-expand-medicaid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">taxpayer funding \u2062of abortions<\/a> in a \u2064way that even Barack Obama\u200c would not. After two-plus years of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/joe-biden-signs-memorandum-backpedaling-on-president-trumps-abortion-policies\/\" title=\"Joe Biden signs memorandum backpedaling on President Trump\u2019s abortion policies\">pro-abortion policies<\/a> from this administration, did Cassidy really think\u200d abortion would somehow escape the EEOC\u2019s notice when it came to implementing this particular law?<\/p>\n<p>Second,\u2064 the \u2064proposed regulation cites three separate federal court \u200crulings, each from different circuits, as well as report language from the passage of the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, to conclude that the federal government considers abortion a \u201crelated medical condition\u201d to \u200bpregnancy. <\/p>\n<p>In other words, just as federal courts have held that state Medicaid programs \u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.juniperresearchgroup.com\/post\/2009\/10\/05\/democrat-compromises-would-expand-federal-funding-for-abortions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">must cover abortions<\/a> unless they are explicitly prohibited\u2064 from doing so \u200dby the Hyde Amendment (which prohibits federal taxpayer funding of elective abortions), so too was abortion practically guaranteed \u200cto fall under the scope \u200dof the PWFA if it\u200b was not\u200c explicitly excluded. And\u200c the amendment Cassidy drafted and sponsored did not do that.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-f823fdd8bb405be5476784a15cee7988 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-f823fdd8bb405be5476784a15cee7988\"><\/div>\n<p>Third, consider how groups\u2064 on the\u200c left have described the bill, and the process leading up to it. In May, \u2062the group A Better Balance,\u2063 which \u2062has advocated for the PWFA for over \u2064a\u2064 decade, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abetterbalance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ABB-Winning-PFWA-RD7-2.pdf#page=88\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published \u2063a book<\/a> about the experience. They \u200cnoted\u200c that\u2063 late last \u200dyear, several senators, including Sen. James Lankford,\u2064 R-Okla., started\u200c raising abortion-related objections to the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>A\u200c Better Balance stated that the bill \u2064passed \u201cthanks to the tireless and shrewd work of our lead\u2063 sponsors\u201d \u2014 Cassidy and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn. \u2014 \u201cand after working in coalition with our partners, as well as many reproductive rights experts and scholars.\u201d The organization went further, talking about \u201cunacceptable poison\u200b pill language\u201d and \u201chostile\u200c amendments\u201d offered by Lankford, which\u2062 the organization fought\u2062 against on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n<p>What \u200dexactly were those \u201chostile amendments\u201d and \u200d\u201cpoison pill language\u201d? One was an \u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/amendment\/117th-congress\/senate-amendment\/6577\/text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">amendment<\/a> Lankford offered that would have stated that religious entities did not have to make accommodations that would violate their beliefs. <\/p>\n<p>This simple principle \u2014\u200c don\u2019t force faith-based\u2064 groups to violate their religion \u2014\u200b seems like common sense to\u200c most Americans. But to Planned Parenthood and the \u201creproductive rights experts \u2062and scholars\u201d associated with \u2062A Better Balance, religious freedom was a \u201chostile amendment\u201d and a \u201cpoison pill.\u201d So too was it to\u200d Cassidy, who\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/legislative\/LIS\/roll_call_votes\/vote1172\/vote_117_2_00414.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voted \u2062against<\/a> Lankford\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Cassidy\u2019s \u2062own staffers <em>knew this was an issue <\/em>\u2014 yet did nothing about it. A source in the pro-life community told me that\u200d Cassidy\u2019s \u201cstaff told us prior to the vote that they knew abortion \u2064was a \u2064problem but they didn\u2019t want to derail the process.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Another\u200b pro-life source said, \u201cCassidy wanted the bill passed at any cost,\u201d and therefore\u200c wouldn\u2019t insist on any provision \u2014 like explicit pro-life protections \u2064\u2014 \u2063that Sen. Patty \u2063Murray, D-Wash., then-chair of the Senate Health Committee and\u200d a strong abortion supporter, would \u200bnot accept.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Cassidy Office Deflects Responses<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I posed a series of questions to Cassidy\u2019s office about \u2062this history.<\/p>\n<p>One of my questions asked \u2064how Cassidy approaches\u200c the role\u200c of the Hyde\u200b Amendment currently \u2064within the \u2062HHS appropriations bill \u2014 \u2062if it were to be\u2064 removed, \u2062does he\u2064 believe\u200d the language of the \u2063bill would still \u200bprevent taxpayers from paying for elective abortions, or does he \u200bconversely admit the \u200cbill is otherwise silent on abortion?<\/p>\n<p>In response, Cassidy\u2062 spokesman Ty Bofferding reiterated that the EEOC \u201chas gone\u2064 rogue.\u201d \u200cHe rejected\u2063 the premise of my inquiries, claiming that my Hyde Amendment analogy was \u201ca false equivalency,\u201d because spending money was \u2063inapposite to whether the EEOC had legal authority \u2062to\u200d include the \u2063abortion language. He referred me to floor statements that both <a href=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/SenatorBobCasey\/videos\/senator-casey-attempts-to-pass-the-pregnant-workers-fairness-act\/617057866858396\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Casey<\/a> and \u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TKWiVF8q2K8\">Cassidy<\/a> gave last December saying that the PWFA did\u200b not touch on abortion.<\/p>\n<p>Pressed for specific answers to several of my other questions, \u2062Bofferding declined \u200cto respond. And as to Bofferding\u2019s claim\u2064 that \u201cSenator Cassidy\u2062 is 100% \u2062pro-life\u201d and that his\u2063 \u201coffice worked with \u2062the pro-life \u200ccommunity to ensure pro-life protections in the legislation,\u201d one \u200cof my sources noted that at the time the legislation passed, \u201cit was <a href=\"https:\/\/catholicvote.org\/do-better-red-flags-raised-by-the-pregnant-workers-fairness-act\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">publicly known pro-life\u2062 issues still existed<\/a> and instead of addressing them in the text he\u200c chose to give a \u2064floor speech with [Sen.] \u200b Casey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line: \u200bCassidy had all the leverage\u2063 he needed to insist\u200b on a\u200d carve-out for religious\u200d organizations,\u2063 language exempting abortion from\u2063 the PWFA entirely, or\u2062 both. Instead, he caved like a cheap \u2063suit, because he \u200bwas worried about \u201cderail[ing] the process.\u201d As a result, employers\u2064 around the country \u2014 to say nothing of the unborn \u2014 will pay the consequences.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Left\u2019s Useful Idiot<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Compare Cassidy\u2019s \u2062actions\u2063 to those of one of his Senate \u200bcolleagues, Tommy \u200dTuberville,\u2062 R-Ala. Whereas Tuberville has placed \u200ca blanket hold on all Pentagon nominations in an attempt to get \u2062the\u2062 Department of Defense to unwind its policy of providing \u2063\u201cabortion vacations\u201d to service members, Cassidy gave the EEOC all the authority it needed to impose \u200dsuch a requirement \u200bon most private-sector employers nationwide. <\/p>\n<p>And while some may have concerns about the implications of Tuberville\u2019s holds on military readiness, at least he hasn\u2019t behaved in the two-faced manner that Cassidy has, privately admitting concerns \u2064with a\u200b bill before\u200b it is in \u2062effect \u200b\u2014 and then loudly raising objections when\u2064 those concerns come to \u200dfruition.<\/p>\n<p>Cassidy frequently plays these games of footsie\u2064 with the left. Witness his attempts during the Obamacare \u201crepeal-and-replace\u201d debate six years ago to placate Jimmy Kimmel \u2014 only for Kimmel to eventually <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KUH0KQ1qMiw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">throw him to the curb<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Even though there\u2019s\u200d no educational value in\u200d the second kick\u2064 of a mule, somehow Cassidy has \u200cyet to learn that trying to appease the \u200bwoke \u2063mob\u200c by \u201cgoing along \u200cto get along\u201d is a fool\u2019s errand.<\/p>\n<p>The bigger question is why the citizens of Louisiana \u2014 many Catholic, and\u2064 many strongly pro-life\u2064 \u2014 keep electing officials like Bill Cassidy to the Senate. Here\u2019s hoping that if Cassidy hasn\u2019t learned\u2064 his lesson three years from now, the people of Louisiana \u2064kick him to the curb \u2014\u200c and out of\u200b the Senate.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-afa7380019be5f869346bd34af0bcf87 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-afa7380019be5f869346bd34af0bcf87\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every summer, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., hosts &#8220;Seersucker Day&#8221; in the U.S. Senate. Perhaps next year, he should consider adding a &#8220;Kick Me&#8221; sign to his attire. This accurately reflects how Cassidy allowed the professional left to manipulate him in proposing a new policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2030229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2030228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2030228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2030229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2030228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2030228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2030228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}