By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The latest budget bill which will keep the government running until April 8 has once again failed to include the cut to Planned Parenthood funding that was approved by the House last month. In addition, two Senators who once supported the bills are now either withdrawing or seriously reconsidering their support.
LifeSiteNews is reporting that the latest stopgap budget bill (H.J. Res. 48) no longer contains an amendment that would end funding to Planned Parenthood. Until the government can agree on a budget for 2011, lawmakers will have to keep passing extensions that lack several pro-life amendments that are considered too contentious to pass.
In the meantime, Alaska’s Senator Lisa Murkowski sent a letter to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee last week in which she condemned the amendment offered by Rep. Mike Pence that de-funded Planned Parenthood. “I believe Planned Parenthood provides vital services to those in need and disagree with their funding cuts in the bill,” she said.
In spite of these feelings, Murkowski voted in favor of the Continuing Resolution that included the amendments which was defeated 44-56 in the U.S. Senate.
Murkowski is not the only pro-life lawmaker who is turning against the measures. Pro-abortion Senator Susan Collins of Maine recently told Politico that she disagrees with the amendment that removes Title X family planning funding, which provides funds to Planned Parenthood clinics.
Collins said she believes ending Title X funding is “unwise” because it has “successfully reduced the number of unplanned pregnancies, therefore helping to reduce health care costs.”
But House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is standing firm behind the amendments.
“The People’s House has already taken a clear position, passing legislation through a wide-open process that reflects the priorities of the American people, both in terms of how much should be spent, and how it should be spent,” said Boehner in a statement following the latest bill’s introduction.
“The House bill received more votes in the Senate than the Democrats’ own proposal, and now the burden remains on the Senate and White House to come forward with a coherent position that will facilitate discussions leading to enactment of a long-term measure that cuts spending.”
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