WASHINGTON – A Senate panel says Apple Inc. is avoiding billions of dollars in U.S.A bill to restrict abortions in the District of Columbia failed to win a two-thirds majority vote necessary to pass in the U.S. House on Tuesday.
The Republican-controlled House voted 220-154 in favor of legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless the mother’s life is in danger. The tally was 70 votes shy of the majority needed to suspend House rules and approve the bill.
Among 203 Republicans supporting the measure were Indiana Reps. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd, and Dan Burton, R-5th. Rep. Mike Pence, R-6th, the GOP candidate for governor, was absent from the vote.
Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-2nd, a candidate for a Senate seat from Indiana, was among 17 Democrats who voted in favor of the bill. Six Republicans and 148 Democrats opposed it.
The House on Tuesday passed a package of veterans-related legislation that included two provisions sponsored by Stutzman. One would prevent businesses that falsely identify themselves as being owned by veterans from procuring VA contracts, and the other requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to give quarterly reports to Congress on the costs of VA conferences.
The latter provision was Stutzman’s response to an 11-day VA conference in Arizona last year that incurred more than $221,000 in expenses.
The Senate passed the legislation earlier, and it awaits President Obama’s signature to become law.
