During Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' confirmation hearing for Secretary of Health and Human Services before the Senate Finance Committee, former presidential candidate and Republican Sen. Bob Dole said, "It would really help if you could get her confirmed before the recess. She can't even get into the building and we are a little behind anyway and this is the issue of the year." Of course, the Finance Committee didn't vote on Sebelius' confirmation until after the recess, when a by a bipartisan vote of 15-8 the Committee recommended she be confirmed. But the full Senate has yet to vote, though they were expected to do so on Thursday.

The Senate Republicans are behind the delay, with Senate Minority Mitch McConnell leading the fight. They are making a last-minute attempt to block Sebelius' confirmation, raising objections because of her stance on abortion. This makes her the last member of Obama's Cabinet yet to be confirmed.  

Last week, the Family Research Council, an anti-choice lobbying group, raised a stink about Sebelius's purported "ties"  to Dr. George Tiller, one of Kansas' few late-term abortion providers. Last month, Tiller was acquitted of 19 counts of misdemeanors brought against him. But FRC, and now Senate Republicans, are objecting to Sebelius based on donations Tiller made to a 2002 political PAC that supported Sebelius in the primary for governor. 

The objections raised by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) during confirmation hearings were that they didn't want to see health care reform achieved through the budget reconciliation process. (In a budget reconciliation, debate is significantly limited and only requires a simple majority to pass. Since Republicans have far fewer than 50 senators, they fear Democrats will steamroll health care reform this way.)  It's an objection that seems like a distraction, since both President Obama and Democratic leadership have said they are committed to working with Congress to achieve bipartisan health care reform. 

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) isn't opposing Sebelius on abortion, but rather on her general approach to health care reform. Kyl has taken a stance against comparative effectiveness research, a field of inquiry that many health care reformers suggest can evidence about the effectiveness of treatments in order to better regulate health care. Kyl thinks that such research and regulation might be used to "deny treatment" and would rather the private market determine which treatments are used in hospitals. 

Senate Republicans have likewise raised objections over the confirmation of Dawn Johnsen to the Office of Legal Council at the Department of Justice, who has a history of working at pro-choice organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and NARAL Pro-Choice America. Anti-choice groups worry that Johnsen, if confirmed, would have a significant influence over future nominations to the Supreme Court. Even Ben Nelson (D-NE) has voiced "concern" over Johnsen's stance on abortion, but his office said that concern may not actively translate into obstruction of her confirmation. 

Despite the stalling tactics of some Republicans, Sebelius has already received broad, bipartisan support as HHS Secretary Nominee. Few objections over Sebelius' stance on abortion were raised during the committee hearings and no one asked about her ties to Tiller. Sebelius has also received an endorsement from Kansas Republican Sen.
Pat Roberts and former Sen. Sam Brownback. But Brownback has recently been debating pulling his support of Sebelius, especially after she vetoed some anti-choice legislation in Kansas. He has recently emerged as the favored Republican candidate in recent polls to run for governor.

Meanwhile Sebelius last week vetoed legislation (pdf) that attempted to place restrictions on late-term abortion providers. The bill sought to have clinics compile a report about the conditions of late-term abortions and make it easier to for anti-choice groups to pursue civil cases for "unprofessional or dishonorable conduct or professional incompetency," a broad and vague standard. The legislation also stipulates many other restrictions, known as TRAP laws, including requiring abortion providers to inform patients of "abnormalities in breast tissue," presumably based on the anti-choice myth that abortions cause breast cancer. 

Despite the work of McConnell and others, reports suggest a confirmation vote on Sebelius may come as early as Tuesday. The Senate has already scheduled eight hours of debate that day and expects, barring a filibuster, the confirmation of Sebelius following the debate. 

The scrambles to block the nominations of Sebelius and Johnsen may show just how desperate the anti-choice community is. CQ Politics reported that "efforts to defeat other nominees on social policy grounds have fallen flat, as even Republican senators have ignored the pleas of outside conservative groups until lately." Anti-choice groups, which during the Bush administration enjoyed real power in high-level government positions, seem to be losing their grip. It's unlikely that anti-choice groups will actually prevent these two women from their appointed positions, but it's also unfortunate that the work of anti-choice activists is stalling important work of Congress, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Justice.