Rand Paul: ‘Need to Be Talking About Planned Parenthood’

Planned Parenthood, a non-profit group, has been under fire for weeks after secretly taped videos produced by an anti-abortion group recorded Planned Parenthood officials discussing the use of fetal tissue harvested from abortions.

Republican leaders of the House and Senate have said they won’t shut the government down over Planned Parenthood.

While Democrats called the vote a waste of time as the Senate hurtles toward a potential government shutdown over Planned Parenthood funding, Republicans pointed to banning late-term abortions as an issue that Americans generally support. McConnell has scheduled a procedural vote for Thursday on the cutoff. The House is not even in session until after Francis speaks, and any decisions about funding are expected to wait until GOP members meet Friday morning. Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Utah and New Hampshire have moved against federal warnings to defund the women’s health clinic as Republicans on Capitol Hill have forced a short-term spending bill that strips Planned Parenthood of any access to federal funds.

The Republican obsession with the group seems to come to this: denying women, especially poor women, the health care they need; pandering for primary votes among Tea Party regulars; and obstructing the budget process and the smooth functioning of government.

Ultimately, the Planned Parenthood provision – prompted by the controversy over the use of aborted fetuses in medical research – is expected to be dropped from the Senate’s spending bill. John Thune (R-S.D.), No. 3 in Senate leadership, replied: “We’ll find out”.

McConnell would then propose a clean funding bill with no defunding restrictions to avoid a government shutdown on October 1. Despite the facts that shutting the government down won’t accomplish anything and that many members of his own party think a shutdown would be a disaster, Cruz is soldiering on, dead set on appealing to the partisans he needs to fuel his bid for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

Over the summer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called Planned Parenthood a “scandal-plagued political lobbying giant”, while pushing to defund the organization.

President Barack Obama has promised to veto any bill that cuts off Planned Parenthood, which means if Cruz gets his way, a shutdown is virtually guaranteed. Planned Parenthood had not yet been invited to hearings conducted by House committees into the organization’s activity.

Though Planned Parenthood disputes the allegations, any government shutdown could have a far wider impact than just on the women’s health provider.

A Boehner loyalist, Representative Devin Nunes of California, said in an interview Monday that he and other House Republicans are urging Boehner to reject the hard-liners’ tactics. “I do not believe that Obama will “cave” to demands to sign legislation that blocks funding for Planned Parenthood, no matter how long he has to wait for the situation to be resolved-especially since he knows that every day that shutdown continues, Republican approval numbers will sink in the polls”.