Democrats Win Battle Over Contraceptives Coverage Attachment in Spending Bill

House Democrats will get their way on omitting an attachment to a spending bill that would have permitted corporations to possibly sidestep ObamaCare’s contraceptive coverage rules.

As reported by Politico, a senior Democratic source said House conservatives had requested that the policy rider be attached to the trillion dollar spending bill, but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi opposed the move, instructing her negotiators to draw “a firm line” against changes to the “conscience clause” in the health reform law.

“Republicans will likely depend on Democratic votes to pass the spending bill, so both parties have been negotiating over the language of the legislation,” said Politico, and added that Democrats would not agree to any changes in ObamaCare that might come via attachments in the spending bill.

“This kind of political maneuvering – using must-pass legislation to accomplish a ‘wish list’ of one faction of Congress and risking a government shutdown – is precisely the kind of behavior the American people detest,” Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) wrote in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner. “We urge you in the strongest possible terms to keep any appropriations legislation considered before the close of the 113th Congress free from ideological policy riders.”