Senate Democrats block GOP bill curbing late abortions

He set up a vote on Thursday that is likely to fund the government through December 11, which is supposed fail because of Democratic opposition.

Democrats in the Senate blocked a bill to make late-term abortions more hard Tuesday, leaving Republicans with an array of choices that includes shutting down the government over abortion issues.

Americans generally like Planned Parenthood – at least they did before Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina raised the subject of the sting videos (showing Planned Parenthood leaders talking about the harvesting of fetal organs for research) at last week’s GOP presidential debate.

But defunding the nation’s largest abortion provider would harm health care and harm the economy, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told TheBlaze.

Planned Parenthood receives around one-third of their yearly budget from federal payments, which usually take the form of Medicare payments handling low-income patients.

The Senate has voted down a bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks.

The federal government does give money to Planned Parenthood, but none goes toward abortion services.

The abortion debate is expected to continue this week.

McConnell said earlier this month that while he supports defunding Planned Parenthood, further efforts to take funds from the organization would be “exercises in futility” because President Barack Obama wouldn’t sign such a measure. “That’s what we’ll be doing”. Lawmakers voted 54 to 42, with Democrats blocking the measure.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said that Tuesday’s showdown was “yet another show vote created to honor the political wish list of extremists”. “It’s really a shame we’re on the verge of another unnecessary crisis”.

Unsaid by McConnell on Tuesday, as he began taking procedural steps for a vote, was what happens next.

The failed motion on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is seen as a signal to conservative Republicans that their abortion-related effort to strip funding for Planned Parenthood can’t pass and therefore shouldn’t be attached to a government funding measure because it could lead to a shutdown. Patty Murray of Washington state, the ranking member of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, have spoken out against Republicans forcing a vote on this bill this week despite having reached a budget resolution for the upcoming fiscal year. He said the chamber may need to work this weekend.

“We should stand for our principles, and our principles should not be surrendering to the Democrats“, Sen. “We may have ball control on this”.

The idea is that the House would have no option other than to pass the measure or spark a shutdown that the great majority of Republicans fear could harm the party.

Jordan said there would be plenty of House votes for a plan to extend current levels of agency funding but shift Planned Parenthood’s funds to other women’s healthcare groups.

“The senator missed the vote this morning because she had prior travel commitments”, Petersen said. “[Boehner’s critics] want to push it so they can then pounce”.

“It would because there are Planned Parenthood facilities whose very existence would be threatened by the stripping of this funding”, Earnest said.

It is unclear, though, if the reconciliation procedure can be used in this situation, and Republican aides said no decisions had yet been made.

You cower and hide when the president even threatens a veto. (Pa.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.) – voted to advance the bill.