Obama signs low-key order denying funds for abortion

WASHINGTON — Anything but jubilant, President Barack Obama awkwardly kept a promise Wednesday he made to ensure passage of historic health care legislation, pledging the administration would not allow federal funds to pay for elective abortions covered by private insurance.

Unlike Tuesday, when a beaming Obama signed the health care law in a nationally televised ceremony interrupted repeatedly by applause, the White House refused to permit coverage of the event. It occurred in the Oval Office in the presence of a small group of anti-abortion Democratic lawmakers who had extracted the commitment over the weekend. The president supports abortion rights.

At the same time, Senate Democrats drove toward final passage of a second health care bill, drafted to supplement the first by sweetening benefits for seniors who have high prescription drug costs and for those families who cannot afford the cost of insurance.

The bill passed the House on Sunday and it appeared Reid had as many as 57 votes in hand for its approval, far more than needed. Far outnumbered, Senate Republicans sought votes on politically-charged proposals that, while potentially troublesome for Democrats, were doomed to defeat. The first, to roll back the bill’s Medicare cuts, was jettisoned on a vote of 56-42; the second, to strip out special projects, by 54-43.

By 56-43, the Senate rejected an amendment by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, to force Obama and others in the government to obtain coverage through purchasing exchanges the law will create in 2014.