Andrea Mitchell Laments Democrat's Contraception Legislation Won’t ‘Get Through Congress’
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, who is known for softball interviews with pro-abortion activists, appeared distraught during her Andrea Mitchell Reports program on Wednesday, July 9 at the chances of a Democratic bill meant to reverse the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby passing Congress.
Speaking with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), one of the co-sponsors of the legislation, Mitchell fretted that the bill “can get through the Senate, but it’s not going to get through Congress.”
The MSNBC host opened her show by championing Murray’s efforts and declared “Senator Patty Murray joins us with more about her new bill announced today to reverse the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby contraception decision. Pushing the issue front and center ahead of the elections. Will the voters have the last word?”
Mitchell began her interview by deceptively claiming that the Supreme Court “denied contraceptive coverage to employees of closely held companies” when in fact the ruling said that companies like Hobby Lobby did not have to violate their religious convictions and be forced to cover four of the mandated contraceptives in its health care plans. Mitchell also failed to mention that Hobby Lobby employees are free to purchase these four contraceptives on their own.
As the interview continued, Mitchell bemoaned that a Democratically controlled Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 that was at the center of the Hobby Lobby ruling. The MSNBC host asked Senator Murray “aren't Democrats and a Democratic president partly responsibility for what's ensued?
Mitchell then cheerleaded Democrats’ previous efforts to circumvent Supreme Court, i.e. passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which Mitchell hyped as "the first law I think President Obama signed, you had a Democratic House, and now you don't.”
Nowhere in the segment did the MSNBCer bother to acknowledge the religious objections Hobby Lobby had. Instead, Mitchell did her best to promote the Democrats’ efforts to blunt the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of religious liberty.
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports
July 9, 2014
ANDREA MITCHELL: The fix. Senator Patty Murray joins us with more about her new bill announced today to reverse the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby contraception decision. Pushing the issue front and center ahead of the elections. Will the voters have the last word?
PATTY MURRAY: We are here to insure that no CEO or corporation can come between people and their guaranteed access to health care, period.
MITCHELL: And good day. I'm Andrea Mitchell in Washington, where Democrats have just unveiled legislation to override the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision that denied contraceptive coverage to employees of closely held companies. But is this all for show, given likely opposition in the Republican-head House? Washington Senator Patty Murray is a co-sponsor of the new bill and joins me now. Senator great to see you. Thank you very much. Is this dead on arrival? You know, you can get it through the Senate, but it's not going to get through Congress.
MURRAY: Look, I think women across the country and men are outraged by a decision by five Supreme Court justices that all of a sudden says your boss has an opportunity to decide for you what your health care choices are. That outrage is being transmitted to everyone, and I think we have a very good chance of rewriting the law so that the justices can't take away women's ability to make their own health care choices.
MITCHELL: At the same time, the Hobby Lobby decision was based in part on a law that was passed by Congress and signed by Bill Clinton, the Religious Freedom Act. And your bill would circumvent that or go around it. So aren’t Democrats and a Democratic president partly responsibility for what's ensued?
MURRAY: Well, the Supreme Court, in my opinion, the five justices, turned the freedom of religion act upside down in their interpretation. So what our legislation does is make it very affirmative that a CEO, a corporation, cannot interfere with their employee's health care decisions. We have done the same kind of thing with Lilly Ledbetter when the Supreme Court interpreted laws in a different way. We rewrote the law. We have done that. That's what we're doing with this legislation today.
MITCHELL::Of course, with Lilly Ledbetter, which was the first law I think President Obama signed, you had a Democratic House, and now you don't.
MURRAY: I mean, obviously, we all know that there are some who are going to take this in a partisan way. That's the way the country is. But I think that as I have heard from women and men, this is not a Democratic women's issue. It is not just a Republican women's issue. This is an issue that affects 99% of the women in this country who say they have or will use contraceptives. It has caused great confusion, disarray, and an outrageous response from people saying who's deciding? It used to be that me, my partner, my faith, my doctor made my health care decisions, and now you insert the guy who signs your paycheck into that decision? That is just outrageous.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter.
