In yet another step that may to indicate their willingness to force a government shutdown, Senate Democrats blocked a budget resolution which would have barred funding from Planned Parenthood.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., moved immediately after the vote to try to avert an Oct. 1 government shutdown by filing a new bill that funds federal agencies but does not include the divisive Planned Parenthood provision. A vote on that bill could come as early as Monday.
Senators voted 52-47 Thursday against advancing a government funding bill by McConnell that would have transferred $235 million from Planned Parenthood to women’s health clinics that don’t perform abortions. Eight Republicans joined all but one Democrat in voting against the motion to advance the bill.
The eight Republicans who refused to advance the budget resolution defunding the abortion provider were Sens. Kelly Ayotte (NH), Susan Collins (ME), Tom Cotton (AR), Dean Heller (NV), Mark Kirk (IL), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Rand Paul (KY), and Ben Sasse (NE). The lone Democrat who voted in favor of defunding was Sen. Joe Manchin (WV).
As the debate rages over the abortion giant, pro-abortion politicians show themselves unwilling to consider defunding Planned Parenthood even for one year, despite the fact that it’s clear the money will be reallocated for basic health services for women – the same ones Planned Parenthood says women need: cancer screenings, breast exams, vaccinations, well-woman visits, and more.
Over 13,000 comprehensive health care clinics, designed to serve low-income women and their families, stand ready to serve women at a greater ability and availability than Planned Parenthood. And yet, pro-abortion politicians insist that only the scandal–laden abortion giant is worthy.
The threat of a government shutdown looms over the nation – all because President Obama and pro-abortion politicians insist that a private organization currently under criminal and congressional investigations should receive half a billion dollars of taxpayer money. GOP presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz writes in a column for Politico:
We can win if we take the case to the American people. Show the Planned Parenthood videos. Stand united.
If Obama follows through on his threat to veto funding for the federal government, we should force him to defend that radical position. Planned Parenthood is a private organization, not even part of the government. That’s worth repeating.
Thus, President Obama’s position is that, if Congress doesn’t give a half-billion dollars to a politically favored private organization currently under criminal investigation, then he will shut down the entire government.
Indeed, the staunch support for the abortion profiteer’s funding has so driven the president that he is willing to let the government grind to a halt for his beloved abortion provider. As Cruz notes in his Politco column, “Like the Terminator, [President Obama] never gives up, he never stops.”
Some were hoping that Pope Francis would hit heavily on abortion as he addressed Congress prior to the Senate vote; however, even the pope avoided the subject of abortion, only glazing over it in passing. And with less than a week left before a federal shutdown, we remain a nation divided by images of pie pans filled with dead baby parts.
It’s an image that nearly all of the Democrats, a handful of Republicans, and the President choose to ignore. The cost for this is yet to be seen.
