The bloated omnibus budget deal proposed by Congress, and likely to pass this week, will keep the government in funds through September, but it also failed to cut Planned Parenthood’s funding. Why didn’t Congress cut these funds when they had the chance?
As LifeSiteNews reports, Republicans and Democrats in Congress agreed on a budget deal the keeps funding in place for the nation’s largest abortion provider in spite of consistent promises from conservative lawmakers that they are committed to putting an end to taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.
“It’s beyond frustrating that Congress is poised to pass a government funding bill that continues to fund Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion vendor and the subject of over a dozen criminal referrals from committees in both the House and Senate,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America.
“The Republican Party is the only party with an anti-abortion platform and whose candidates ran specifically on the promise to defund Planned Parenthood, yet, here we are, watching them pass a bill that funds Planned Parenthood even though they control the House, Senate, and White House.”
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List agrees. “With pro-life Republican majorities in both houses, it is incredibly disappointing that any Republican spending bill would contain continued funding for Planned Parenthood,” Dannenfelser said. “This makes it imperative that Republicans also move quickly on a reconciliation bill that redirects the abortion giant’s funding to community health centers.”
Moving forward on a reconciliation bill is precisely what many pro-life leaders in Congress say they are planning to do and it will be through this means that Planned Parenthood’s funds will be eliminated. The reason for this is that trying to defund Planned Parenthood in an omnibus bill, which requires 60 votes, will likely fail to pass in the Senate. However, a reconciliation bill only requires 51 votes and, therefore, would be much more likely to pass through both houses of Congress.
“For those of you reading the media reports that the GOP didn’t cut Planned Parenthood funding in the omnibus, there’s a reason for that,” explains Tony Perkins of the Family Research Center. Aside from avoiding the 60 vote threshold, “adding that provision [to defund Planned Parenthood] as a rider on discretionary spending bills like this one wouldn’t affect the mandatory spending programs, which also finance Planned Parenthood.”
He adds, “Republicans are committed to severing ties with the group, but the omnibus isn’t the tool to do it. Until then, we’re keeping up the fight for a plan that recognizes: abortion isn’t health care!”
He also pointed out some good news in the omnibus bill that shouldn’t be overlooked.
“The U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) will technically get the same $32.5 million in funding it enjoyed last year — but thanks to President Trump, every cent will be redirected into the general foreign aid account to be funneled to other entities, since the group violated federal law by promoting forced abortion.” This means the UNFPA gets nothing.
In addition, even though Title X family planning will receive the same $286.5 million that it received last year, some states can now prevent Planned Parenthood from getting any of it. This is because of a new bill signed by President Trump allows local governments to cut funding to abortion clinics in their states.
On a related issue, funding for abstinence education programs jumped another $5 million to $15 million in the omnibus bill. Even though this is nothing compared to the $101 million given to comprehensive sex ed programs, it takes what was once a 10-to1 advantage from “safe sex” programs over abstinence programs to six-to-10. It’s not the best, but it’s a step in the right direction.
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