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Meet The Lone Democrat Who Could Sink Obama’s Health Care (Yahoo!)
Anyone who’s followed the health care debate even casually over the past year has probably heard Rep. Bart Stupak’s name mentioned a time or two. The nine-term Democrat from Michigan is the author of the “Stupak Amendment,” a rider attached to the House health care legislation that would effectively ban most government funding of abortion under the new health care system. Now, as House and Senate leaders prepare to hammer out next steps, Stupak is claiming that he and a dozen or so anti-abortion Democratic colleagues who supported the House bill in November will refuse to back any compromise bill that doesn’t keep his amendment intact. That is more than enough votes to kill the legislation.
All of which might lead many outside the Beltway to wonder who Stupak is, and how he’s come to wield such clout.
Before his star turn in the health care debate, Stupak was a fairly typical midlevel Democrat. His Michigan district is culturally conservative, but heavily pro-labor, so he’s simultaneously a fierce critic of free-trade agreements like NAFTA and a vocal opponent of abortion. He’s best known in policy-wonk circles for his profile as Congress’ main consumer watchdog on food safety issues. His consumer protection workload also takes in pharmacy regulation—an issue Stupak feels a strong personal connection to, via his conviction that his son B.J. was driven to commit suicide in 2000 by side effects of the powerful anti-acne drug Accutane.
