Joe Biden got a lot of exercise during the 2020 campaign sprinting to the Left. He turned himself inside-out to prove his radical cred to everyone from Planned Parenthood to Squad socialists. But his biggest surprise, at least after 40 years of saying otherwise, was his flip on taxpayer-funded abortion. Pushed and prodded by reporters and activists, the self-professed Catholic finally took a question on the Hyde amendment that sealed the deal with his party’s extremists. Asked by a liberal voter about the wall between taxpayer dollars and abortion, Biden replied: “It can’t stay.” Two years later, the test of whether he meant it has finally come. And the answer is: he does.

When Biden released his first budget proposal this week — a $6 trillion boondoggle of every Leftish wish under the sun — there was one thing noticeably absent. For the first time since 1976, a president presented a budget that didn’t protect the American people from paying for them. To the liberal media establishment, it was the clearest sign yet that Biden has come full circle. “A budget blueprint that omits the Hyde amendment and other anti-abortion provisions could be Biden’s strongest statement yet…” Politico agreed.

Of course, Joe Biden didn’t exactly need to prove his radical bona fides. He’s already made more pools of government money available for abortion spending than any president — including Barack Obama. Whether taxpayers realize it or not, this administration has opened up $479,905,584,775 dollars to the killing of innocent unborn children, almost 20 times what Obama allowed. In just four months, FRC’s Connor Semelsberger points out, Biden is poised to do more damage in one term than Obama did in eight years!

Until Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016, the idea of forcing open Americans’ wallets and ordering them to pay for the destruction of life was never really a question. Bill Clinton called for it in 1993 but never succeeded. The Hyde amendment’s history, as Biden’s pre-presential run showed, was a story of bipartisan consensus. Even radical Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) admitted, “This is one of those things where it’s hard to change people’s minds. I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”

And she’s not just talking about her own more moderate colleagues. The American people are solidly against the idea — and have been since pollsters started asking. Just this past January, the Marist organization found Democrats may have staked out new ground on the issue — but voters haven’t followed. Almost 60 percent of Americans don’t want their money financing abortion, including 31 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of Independents. As even liberal outlets like Slate have been trying to warn Biden’s party, this idea isn’t as nearly popular as Democrats think. On the legality of abortion, it’s a smorgasbord of opinions. “But on the question of direct payments, most voters agree with the GOP. If Democrats make that question a litmus test,” Slate’s William Saletan says, “they’ll regret it.”

Of course, the Democratic Party has never really let public opinion (or human dignity) get in the way of their radical agenda. As we speak, Democrats in Congress aren’t waiting for Biden’s budget proposal to move forward with this disastrous 180-degree turn. Leftists like Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who just took over the House Appropriations Committee, have already started the drumbeat to kick the four decades-old Hyde to the curb. Her party got a good start with the $1.9 trillion dollar COVID relief bill this March, which — despite three Democratic senators joining the GOP — fell a handful of votes shy of protecting the unborn in every area of the proposal’s funding.

It’s a dramatic contrast to the states, where legislatures are moving just as fast to tighten up pro-life laws and pass new abortion limits. In the last handful of months, at least four states — Idaho, Arkansas, Montana, and Oklahoma — took a bite out of the abortion industry’s budget, defunding groups like Planned Parenthood by name or in broader appropriations. (To see how your state stacks up, check out FRC’s Pro-Life Maps!) As many as 15 other states have similar proposals in the pipeline.

That momentum isn’t lost on the White House or Democrats, Politico says. “With states pushing forward a new wave of sweeping abortion restrictions and the Supreme Court gearing up to hear a direct challenge to Roe vs. Wade, progressives have been pressing Biden to move fast.” And so far, he seems quite content to oblige them. If that surprises Biden voters, it shouldn’t. This is the same radicalism that Democrats spelled out plainly in their last two party platforms. And frankly, it’s what Biden promised to do. If squishy Republicans or misled Christians were under the impression Democrats would lighten up after Biden took the reins, they were either painfully naïve or desperately trying to justify their vote. Either way, the unborn will pay the price. And at $6 trillion dollars, it’s a steep one.

For more on the history and importance of the Hyde amendment, check out FRC’s resource by Connor Semelsberger here.

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.