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Rep. Pramila Jayapal says she won’t support Reconciliation bill if it includes Hyde Amendment

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Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair of the progressive caucus, said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union that she will not support Democrats’ Reconciliation bill if it includes the Hyde Amendment, a stipulation that prohibits taxpayer money from funding abortions.

On Sunday, CNN anchor Dana Bash noted that Jayapal had shared her experience with abortion in congressional testimony last week. She asked the congresswoman if she would vote for a bill that has the Hyde Amendment included. “No,” Jayapal responded.

“So what happens?” Bash asked. Jayapal responded that “this is a negotiation” and then claimed that the Hyde Amendment is a measure that “the majority of the country does not support.” A January 2021 Marist Poll showing that 58 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion, while 38 support it.

She added that one-in-four American women have had an abortion and are in need of reproductive care during a time “when those protections are being rolled back.” She continued: “That is nobody’s business. It is our business as people that carry the babies. And we have to be able to make the choices during our pregnancy.”

Bash then questioned whether Jayapal was suggesting federal money should be spent on abortion in the spending package. “No. None of the dollars here are going for that,” the congresswoman said. Jayapal added that she thinks Manchin is asking for “something more than” just the Hyde Amendment.

Jayapal’s comments come after Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) told National Review that the bill would be “dead on arrival” if the Hyde Amendment were not included. “Yeah, we’re not taking the Hyde Amendment off. Hyde’s going to be on,” he said.

Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), both of whom are moderates, have refused to support the bill’s suggested $3.5 trillion price tag. The bill would need the support of all 50 Senate Democrats to pass via the budget reconciliation process.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Friday that Democrats need more time to pass both measures. “While great progress has been made in the negotiations to develop a House, Senate and White House agreement on the Build Back Better Act, more time is needed to complete the task,” Pelosi wrote in a Dear Colleague letter on Friday evening [National Review].

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE

PHOTO CREDITS: THE DAILY BEAST

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