Alabama ends effort to cut off funds to Planned Parenthood

Alabama agreed to drop its plan to sever Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding after state officials failed to convince a federal judge they had a valid reason for the cutbacks and clinic leaders said they would continue abiding by all laws regarding fetal tissue handling.

Planned Parenthood has cancelled a Detroit event planned ahead of World AIDS Day following last week’s shootings at a Colorado clinic.

Reid said said political leaders have to “think very hard” about what they say going forward. Amid an investigation of abortion by the Republican-controlled Legislature, a University of Missouri Health Care system medical staff panel voted in September to discontinue the form of privileges granted to Planned Parenthood doctor Colleen McNicholas, effective Tuesday.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday said he expects lawmakers to debate federal funding this month for Planned Parenthood as they consider spending legislation for the current fiscal year, but he did not expect a government shutdown over funding for the women’s health group.

There are less than two weeks until a deadline to pass a $1.1 trillion catchall spending bill to fund Cabinet agencies and avoid a holiday season government shutdown.

A bloc of conservatives are pressuring GOP leaders to strip government funding for the organization after videos released by an anti-abortion group earlier this year featured officials from Planned Parenthood discussing the sale of fetal tissue.

“We’re regrouping with the expectation that we’re moving this week on it”, said a Senate GOP aide, who described the meeting as “a final get-together to find out where we are so we can move with ObamaCare repeal”.

Ryan is sure to have to do the same this time around despite pressure from outside groups like the Heritage Foundation to force battles over trying to use the must-do measure to take away federal funding from Planned Parenthood or deal with worries about Syrian refugees in the wake of the Paris attacks. Some conservatives have said they’d support such a showdown. Budget watchdogs say tapping into Federal Reserve surpluses is nothing more than a $59 billion gimmick and that the highway bill will actually add that figure to the government’s nearly $19 trillion debt. But, “I do not hear people shutting the government down over it right now”, said McCarthy, a Republican from California.

McCarthy noted that before the shooting incident, the Republican-majority House had put together a select committee to investigate Planned Parenthood, and “we’ll see where that plays out”.

“We’ll wait and see what happens”, Mr. Reid said.