Rep. Henry Hyde Dies; Helped Lead Clinton Impeachment
"Former Representative Henry J. Hyde, the powerful Illinois Republican who won battles to prohibit federal financing of abortions and to impeach President Clinton but who failed to persuade the Senate to convict and remove him from office, died yesterday in Chicago. He was 83. The cause was complications of heart surgery, his son Anthony said.
"With his heavyset build and snow-white hair, Mr. Hyde was an imposing figure on the House floor and a persuasive speaker whose arguments could change votes, a rarity in the House in the years he served, from 1975 to 2007. While his public image was largely defined first by the abortion issue and then by impeachment, within the House Mr. Hyde had a more complex political persona. He supported extending the Voting Rights Act in 1981, championed many foreign aid measures and family leave legislation, and backed Mr. Clinton over a ban on assault weapons. But he also supported aid to the Nicaraguan contras and backed constitutional amendments requiring a balanced budget and prohibiting abortions, flag-burning and same-sex marriages.
"Mr. Hyde’s efforts against abortion began in 1976, when he proposed an amendment to an appropriations bill to prohibit Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor, from paying for abortions."
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