Sunday morning political rewind

(LIN) – White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew was the star of Sunday’s political shows just a couple of days after President Barack Obama tried to clear up a revamped interpretation of contraception within the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

When elements of the 2010 health care bill were originally discussed in January, legislation mandated that religious institutions must begin providing for women’s health.  As part of that plan, those same workplaces would also have to provide contraceptive services freely to their employees.

The mandate sparked a firestorm of criticism.

Some lawmakers and religious institutions decried the act as an assault on the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom.

Those groups,American Catholic bishops issued a statement.

“We cannot – we will not comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second-class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom.”

Others pointed to the move as another example of the federal government growing out of control.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., publicly denounced the law and is already drafting legislation to overturn the policy.

“This is a common-sense bill that simply says the government can’t force religious organizations to abandon the fundamental tenets of their faith because the government says so,” he said of his bill in a statement.

In the hope of quelling the chaos, Obama and the White House issued a Friday statement indicating they had reached a compromise.

“Under the new policy to be announced today, women will have free preventive care that includes contraceptive services no matter where she works. The policy also ensures that if a woman works for religious employers with objections to providing contraceptive services as part of its health plan, the religious employer will not be required to provide contraception coverage, but her insurance company will be required to offer contraceptive care free of charge,” the statement said.

U.S. Catholic bishops still opposed the move and issued another statement.

The compromise "continues to involve needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions, and to threaten government coercion of religious people and groups to violate their most deeply held convictions."

On Sunday, Lew tried to clarify the latest details on the law.

“What the president announced Friday was what was envisioned all along,” he said on “Meet the Press” with David Gregory. “It’s a good solution.”

On Fox , Lew said the whole idea of mandating contraception via the law makes more economic sense than not. “It costs more to provide a plan without contraceptive services,” he told Chris Wallace.

Furthermore, if opposition should persist, Lew said the administration will hold their ground. “Some want to divide and say no way to come to agreement…This is our plan.”

Some who are in opposition, like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expect the battle to play out in the courts.

“This is about freedom of religion…right there in the First Amendment. The government doesn’t get to decide what religious rights are,” he said Sunday. “Tomorrow, Senate Republicans will be filing an amicus brief …This issue will not go away until the administration backs down.”