NELCG – Library

And It Came to Pass

Advocacy groups have kept up their fights through the holiday season. In fact, the fight over health care was "the Mother of all Battles, the titanic struggle over Obama's determined effort to transform/co-opt a sixth of the American economy," said Dave Andrusko of the National Right to Life Committee in an e-mail to supporters.

The "titanic struggle" included lobbying in the halls of Congress and protests on the streets. Days before the Senate's Christmas Eve vote, the Family Research Council organized a protest at Senator Mary Landrieu's (D-La.) Baton Rouge office, which was closed for the holidays. Images on the FRC website show protestors dressed as Roman soldiers with signs reading:

"Obama Care

Health Care King Herod Would Love!

Matthew 2:16-18"

The verses in Matthew refer to Herod's murder of all males under two years of age.

Andrea Lafferty, president of the Traditional Values Coalition, condemned the tactics allegedly used by the Senate leadership to pass the bill. "At a time when most Americans are thinking about the celebration of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was using bribes, extortion, threats, and secrecy to ram through Obama's socialized medicine plan," Lafferty said.

Other groups were also disturbed by how the bill was negotiated.

Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice accused the Senate of using Christmas as a distraction as it passed "a very disturbing measure that puts the federal government at the center of what should be private and personal health care decisions."

Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) also criticized the wrangling of votes, taking aim at Landrieu and Senator Nelson (D-Neb.) for receiving special concessions in the bill. Land was particularly angry with Nelson, who had said he would not vote for the bill without strong language against federal funding of abortion.

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