US House passes temporary funding bill to avert government shutdown

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards answered questions before a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on September 29, as congressional efforts to end taxpayer funding of the nation’s largest abortion provider continue.

The House also passed a companion bill aimed at restoring the Planned Parenthood defunding provision, but the Senate is not expected to act on it, effectively killing it.

Frank said the continuation of Planned Parenthood should be up to communities to decide., “Just like we’re locally supported by the community, reflecting local community values, if a community wants those services they should support those services“.

Federal programs including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and other programs, which address a break in the social safety net, are being negatively impacted at their current levels, according to Democrats.

In fact, in its September 18 vote to defund Planned Parenthood, the House also voted to send an additional $235 million to federal community health centers, Day noted.

Wednesday’s clean bill passed 78 votes to 20 in the Senate with more than half the chamber’s Republicans voting in favor.

The Texas senator, who is actively seeking the Republican nomination for president, was asked by substitute host Jamie Weinstein on the “Hugh Hewitt Show” whether McConnell should follow outgoing Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) lead and resign his post. And all I can say is we’ve been in that world before.

“If there’s a way to get things done so I don’t burden my successor, I’ll get them finished”, he said Tuesday.

House conservatives, cheered on by a few Senate colleagues, had insisted that Planned Parenthood be punished for allegedly improperly selling fetal tissue harvested from abortions.

Although the House successfully voted to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding in the wake of the controversy, the Senate has failed to do so. It did not defund Planned Parenthood as far-right conservatives have demanded.

Republicans sought to cut off the group’s federal funds after an anti-abortion group released videos that suggest it profited from donating tissue from aborted fetuses to medical researchers. Pro-life advocates have argued that the money is fungible and frees up resources to perform more abortions.

But the bill only funds the government through December. 11, setting up another battle just before the holiday season.

Planned Parenthood received $297,904 from Medicaid during the past five years, generally for contraceptive-related services, including office visits, pap smears and birth control, Soura said.

“The uncertainty and unnecessary tumult of playing games right up to the brink of a government shutdown is not helpful to our fragile economy”. These attacks on women’s health harm women and are not what the American public wants Congress to spend it time doing.