Cliff Kincaid at Accuracy in Media lines up some of the reasons why the US Conference of Catholic Bishops helped push the Pelosi/Obama so-called health reform bill over the finish line late Saturday night and wonders where is the separation of church and state.
Kincaid explains and suggests some reasons why the USCCB might be in Pelosi’s pocket, including their immigration advocacy. After you read this, I’ll add one more reason he has missed. Hat tip: Janet Levy
The AARP and American Medical Association supported H.R. 3692, the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009, but a careful analysis of the media coverage demonstrates that it was the U.S. Catholic Church that provided the winning margin. Yet, the liberal media are failing to raise the issue of the alleged separation of church and state.
Contrary to some media reports, the U.S. Catholics Bishops never opposed a national health care scheme. In fact, their main objection was to a provision for federal funding of abortion. Once that provision was eliminated, the Catholic Bishops embraced the bill.
On Saturday, after Catholic lobbyists had finalized a deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most prominent Catholic in the U.S. Government, the Politico reported that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had “delivered a critical endorsement” to Pelosi “by signing off on late-night agreement to grant a vote on an amendment barring insurance companies that participate in the exchange from covering abortions.” The anti-abortion amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak, a Catholic Democrat, passed. Hence, the Bishops are now officially in favor of a bureaucratic plan that could spell the end to freedom of choice in health care and financially bankrupt the U.S.
“A half dozen lobbyists for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops joined negotiators in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office to come to terms,” reported the Christian Science Monitor.
[…..]
NBC’s Doug Adams reported that the Catholic Bishops were “lobbying hard.”
The shocking turn of events once again demonstrates the extreme left-wing drift of the Catholic Church, which is the nation’s largest religious denomination with 67 million members and run by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. But their role in passing Pelosicare is not the only evidence of such a turn. The Bishops poured more than $7.3 million of parishioners’ money into the corrupt left-wing organization ACORN over the last decade before publicity over the organization’s scandals forced suspension of the funding.
Please read Kincaid’s whole article.
Here is what Kincaid has missed—federal funding. The USCCB is the largest federal contractor* for resettling refugees and running immigrant programs in the US. That $7.3 million that went to ACORN is chump change and may not have even come from parishioners—it might have come from taxpayers.
We recently learned that 100 Catholic Charities got a whopping $85,557,665 from the US Treasury to run their many immigrant and other welfare programs in 2009 alone!
Add to the $85 million dispersed around the US to Catholic Charities, note that the US State Department funded the DC office of the USCCB to the tune of $25 million (FY2009)! I sure hope the USCCB is keeping their refugee money separate from their lobbying money. Anyone doing any auditing? What do you think, Pelosi had a little leverage here!
There is more. We are funding with our tax dollars a multi-million dollar far left Catholic expansion of power throughout the government. Take the case of Tennessee where Catholic Charities is now in charge of the millions of dollars that goes to Tennessee each year for refugee and immigrant federal programs. The federal regulations mandate that a state agency manage the program for the many “church” and other non-profit groups operating to take care (LOL!) of immigrants within the state. In Tennessee there is no state overseer, the fox essentially has the hen house.
So if one questions the issue of separation of church and state, think about the fact that Catholic Charities of Tennessee and the US State Department/Dept of Health and Human Services (the federal government!) make decisions for Tennessee regarding refugees and immigrants. There is no decision-making role for the state or local government in deciding who is resettled in the state or how many. The only role is that the state and local governments supply welfare assistance. States should be guarding against this trend.
If amnesty is given to millions of illegal aliens, as the USCCB is also lobbying for, you can be sure these Catholic offices roles will expand even further. This is how the federal government with the help of its quasi-government agencies, like Catholic Charities, usurps the role of state governments.
We have already heard that Pelosi twisted many arms and offered loads of pork to legislators to secure their vote, certainly the USCCB had a lot of funding to lose if they didn’t go along with the program. And, who knows what they were promised in the future.
* Here are the Top Ten federal contractors resettling refugees, running immigrant welfare programs AND lobbying! They have 300 plus subcontractors.