Patrick Kennedy to Scott Brown: Stop Citing My Father
The late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s son, Patrick Kennedy, is asking Sen. Scott Brown to stop invoking his father’s name in the midst of a hard-fought battle over health care in a tough campaign.
Mr. Brown, a Massachusetts Republican fighting to hold onto his seat, has been citing Mr. Kennedy, who had held the Senate seat for almost a half-century, in opposing President Barack Obama’s new rules on contraception. Under those rules, church-related institutions like Catholic universities must provide employees with insurance that covers contraception, but the insurance company, rather than the employer itself, can pay for it if the employer has religious objections.
Mr. Brown has attacked that policy as a violation of religious freedom. He supports a “conscience” law saying employers don’t have to provide coverage for services they find religiously or morally objectionable. Critics say that’s so broad that it would let employers omit any coverage they dislike for any reason, from drug treatment to mental health services....