Senate GOP Unveils Bill To Fund Government But Not Planned Parenthood

Other groups, such as Americans United for Life, have taken a relatively safer approach, which is to neither oppose nor support a government shutdown over Planned Parenthood funding.

Abortion foes say the videos show Planned Parenthood has violated federal prohibitions against profiting from fetal tissue sales or changing some abortion procedures to maximize the harvesting of fetuses’ organs. But Democrats, whose votes are needed to pass the measure, have said they will not support a bill that cuts off funding for the organization.

“It’s legislation that would allow America to join the ranks of most civilized nations when it comes to protecting the most innocent and vulnerable of life“, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said during remarks on the Senate floor, according to the Hill.

They said Planned Parenthood shouldn’t automatically get $3.4 million in federal money.

Walking into the KentuckyOne Health Medical Mall, Dittmeier said Planned Parenthood may be controversial, but does some good and should be left alone. (Pa.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.) – voted to advance the bill. “Instead of funding public education and state employees, NCGOP decides to focus on right wing hoaxes”, Hall tweeted. Republican leadership, nervous about the political ramifications of a shutdown, are frustrated by conservatives – like Cruz – who want to stare down Democrats. The bill would permanently prohibit federal funding of Planned Parenthood, and was introduced amidst conservative backlash to a series of selectively edited undercover videos appearing to show executives from the organization discussing the process of fetal tissue donation.

In McConnell’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, Sandra Dittmeier said Republicans should not be “holding the government hostage” over Planned Parenthood.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday tried to push through a bill that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but they were blocked by Democrats.

But that hasn’t stopped Cruz, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, from circulating a letter to fellow Republicans asking for them to sign on to his strategy.

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.

Some of the discussion is going to sound familiar to supporters and opponents of Planned Parenthood’s local chapter, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, which operates two clinics in Louisiana, one in New Orleans and one in Baton Rouge.

If Congress does not act, there will be a government shutdown on October 1.

Cohen went on to tell U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson that the Bentley administration does not, in Planned Parenthood’s view, have a legitimate reason to terminate their Medicaid contract.