To sway Nelson, a hard-won compromise on abortion issue

By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 20, 2009;A06

The Democrats wouldn't even sit in the same room.

At one end of the majority leader's office, Ben Nelson(D-Neb.), the antiabortion senator whose support was crucial tohealth-care legislation, huddled with White House staff in a conferenceroom. At the other end, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Patty Murray(D-Wash.), the chamber's leading advocates of abortion rights, hunkeredas far from Nelson as possible, in the office of Reid's chief of staff.

Shuttling between the two parties Friday afternoon and evening were Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Charles E. Schumer(D-N.Y.). Desperately trying to find a compromise, Schumer put his headin his hands early Friday afternoon. "What are we going to do?" heasked Reid.

But by 10:30 p.m. Friday, a handshake deal sealed a hard-woncompromise over abortion. Within minutes senators were on the phonewith Obama, who was flying aboard Air Force One, having just forged hiscompromise with world leaders on global warming, according to senatorsand aides who participated in the negotiations. "We did it, Mr.President," Reid told Obama.

The deal faced an immediate assault from both ends of the abortionspectrum Saturday morning. The National Organization of Women dubbed it"cruelly over-compromised legislation" and the antiabortion FamilyResearch Council dismissed it as a "phony compromise."

Under the new abortion provisions, states can opt out of allowingplans to cover abortion in the insurance exchanges the bill would setup. The exchanges are designed to serve individuals who lack coveragethrough their jobs, with most receiving federal subsidies to buyinsurance. Enrollees in plans that cover abortion procedures would paywith separate checks -- one for abortion, one for any other health-careservices.

This was an effort to comport with the 32-year prohibition againstfederal funding for abortions, but the Nelson compromise is a softeningof the House language, which was written by Rep. Bart Stupak(D-Mich.). The Stupak amendment forbid any insurer in the exchange "topay for any abortion or to cover any part of the costs of any healthplan that includes coverage of abortion" -- a position that abortionrights advocates suggested would have led to many insurance providersdropping abortion coverage.

"I know this is hard for some of my colleagues to accept. And Iappreciate their right to disagree. But I would not have voted for thisbill without these provisions," Nelson said Saturday. With 59 membersof the Democratic caucus already supporting the entire legislation, Nelson was the last holdout needed to shut down the Republican filibuster.

Some of Nelson's colleagues accused him of using the abortion issue asleverage to get a better reimbursement rate for his state underMedicaid provisions in the legislation. "You've got to compliment BenNelson for playing 'The Price Is Right,' " Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said.

Schumer, who spent more than 13 hours in Reid's office Friday, said theMedicaid issue was settled around lunchtime, and the final eight hoursof the talks focused on the abortion language. Boxer estimated shespent seven hours in Reid's offices -- without ever once sitting in thesame room, even though they were all of 25 steps apart.

Reid and Schumer kept up the "shuttle negotiation" between theleader's conference room and his top aide's office, Boxer said. Keenlyaware how tense the talks were, the White House dispatched two aideswho together have decades of experience in the Senate -- Jim Messinaand Peter Rouse -- to work with Nelson. They relayed their intelligenceto White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who monitored the talksfrom a dinner in Georgetown.

Around 8 p.m., everyone took what was supposed to be a short break,but by 9:30 p.m. Nelson had not returned to Reid's office, stoking fearin the Capitol and the White House that the deal was heading south.Reid and Schumer -- who had barely eaten for the past three days of thetalks -- gnawed on Christmas cookies in the leader's offices, accordingto Schumer.

Finally, Nelson was ready to cut the deal, no matter what theantiabortion groups said. No announcement was made because he wanted tosee the final language in writing the next day. According to Schumer,he and Reid shook hands with Nelson. Then Reid walked across his officesuites to find an anxious Boxer. "We have a deal," he said.

"It was a moment I'll never forget," Boxer recalled Saturday.

Nelson later joined Boxer at her end of Reid's office, greeting the Californian with a big hug.

Staff writers Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray contributed to this report.