Beto O’Rourke Voted To Reauthorize Hyde Amendment Despite Claims That He Fought It
Presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke ?— who was critical of fellow candidate Joe Biden’s past support of the Hyde Amendment? — used a Sunday ABC interview to claim that he voted to repeal the controversial legislative provision every single session of Congress. The amendment is divisive because it prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortion except in extreme cases, such as incest or when the woman’s life is threatened.
“I can just tell you that I’ve always known what I’ve thought on this issue. That every single woman in this country should be able to make her own decisions about her own body,” O’Rourke said.
“Every single session in the United States Congress I voted to repeal the Hyde Amendment. I co-sponsored legislation to do the same.”
Just as Biden has been criticized for walking back his support for the amendment, as The Inquisitr reported, O’Rourke’s recent comment may lead to similar backlash as the Washington Examiner reports that the former Texas representative actually voted in favor of 2018 government funding bills that included the Hyde Amendment in June and September.
Along with O’Rourke, other Democratic presidential contenders that voted in favor of the Hyde Amendment include Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Michael Bennet, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Although Sen. Bernie Sanders voted against this particular bill, he has voted for the Hyde Amendment in the past when it was attached to other bills, although he defended his decision to do so.
.@BetoORourke claims he voted to repeal the Hyde Amendment.
We checked, and he voted to reauthorize it. https://t.co/gYcucp6YdX
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) June 10, 2019
“Well, look, sometimes in a large bill you have to vote for things you don’t like,” he said.
“But I think my record as being literally 100% pro-choice is absolutely correct.”
O’Rourke also made headlines recently when he criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration deal with Mexico as “overblown” on ABC’s This Week on Sunday. As The Inquisitr reported, he was also critical of the way Trump sealed the deal using the threat of tariffs.
“These are agreements that Mexico had already made, in some cases, months ago,” O’Rourke said, adding that although tariffs might have accelerated the timeline of events, he believes Trump did more harm than good with his actions.
During the same interview, O’Rourke suggested that the recent polls showing him lagging behind Democratic frontrunners are not an accurate representation of his potential. He added that if he used polls to guide his actions, he never would have served in Congress or challenged Ted Cruz in the Texas Senate race.
