DeMint Strikes Again
Late into Monday evening, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) sought to offer an amendment to prevent forced abortion in China to the global AIDS bill. Senate GOPers and Democrats agreed late last week to craft a package of nearly 10 amendments that would be acceptable to offer on the AIDS package, which is backed by President Bush. The abortion amendment was not one of them. But late Monday night, DeMint tried to tack his new amendment onto three amendments he has already offered and have been approved by leadership. According to a DeMint aide, the second amendment would block funding for forced abortions in China. DeMint, widely know for his fiscal conservatism, has cried foul over the entire bill’s price tag and the way in which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was allegedly handling Republican amendments. A Democratic aide said that Reid will move to table DeMint’s first set of amendments, which would likely force his abortion amendment to fail as well. DeMint has three other amendments on the HIV/AIDS bill.