Pro-life advocates are demanding a new reconciliation bill in order to defund Planned Parenthood as soon as possible after the House failed to pass a health care bill doing just that last week.
Tom McClusky, vice president of government affairs of the March for Life, said Republicans should use reconciliation in order to avoid a Senate filibuster and potential government shutdown, as they did when an Obamacare repeal was sent to President Obama’s desk in 2015.
“We do think this is still a sound strategy,” Mr. McClusky said. “It’s a strategy that worked in the last Congress of using the reconciliation process.”
But the clock is ticking: A continuing resolution (CR) that funds the federal government — and Planned Parenthood — expires on April 28.
Jay Richards, assistant research professor at The Catholic University of America, said divesting Planned Parenthood’s funding through the CR is risky. Democrats could threaten to filibuster the budget and shut down the government, he said.
“It could be a problem,” said Mr. Richards, executive editor of news website The Stream. “I don’t think, frankly, Republicans have the stomach for a government shutdown. I think that’s probably not politically a good idea.”
Meanwhile, Lila Rose, president of Live Action, said there is “no more time for delay.” She said the abortion giant “gets another $1.5 million from taxpayers to keep its doors open and kill 887 more preborn children” every day the legislation is delayed.
“Congress and President Trump must act now to use this current budget reconciliation bill to end the forced taxpayer funding of abortion giant Planned Parenthood and end the use of Obamacare subsidies to buy health insurance that pays for abortions,” Ms. Rose said in a statement.
Republicans pulled the American Health Care Act from the House floor Friday.
Despite the advocacy of President Trump, the AHCA failed to appeal to conservatives who said it did not go far enough to roll back Obamacare. After the House Freedom Caucus and conservative interest groups voiced opposition to the legislation, it was withdrawn by leadership without a vote.
But the AHCA received broad support from the pro-life movement due to its provision defunding Planned Parenthood and protections to ensure health care dollars would not be used to finance abortions.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer refused to say whether the administration would pursue defunding Planned Parenthood through the continuing resolution.
“I don’t want to get ahead of our legislative strategy,” Mr. Spicer said Monday at the daily press briefing. “We’ll look at other opportunities, but this was definitely one that was a way to make that happen.”
Dan Holler, vice president of Heritage Action for America, which opposed the AHCA, said there is still time to pass a health care bill that appeals to conservatives and defunds Planned Parenthood.
“Heritage Action remains focused on advancing a bill that repeals Obamacare, including the insurance mandates that increase premiums by up to 68 percent, and begins implementing reforms that empower patients, doctors and states,” Mr. Holler said in a statement. “That remains an attainable, near-term legislative objective. Such an effort would obviously include the one-year defunding of Planned Parenthood included in the 2015 bill and the AHCA.”
Mr. Richards said some Republican lawmakers could be convinced to vote to continue to fund Planned Parenthood if subsequent defunding legislation is imminent.
“I really think it hinges on whether the House, the Republicans in the House, decide to give us another option on Obamacare repeal,” he said. “If they do, I think pro-life votes will wait on that. I know that’s what we’ve all been thinking, if the whole thing gets repealed, then [Planned Parenthood] will go down with the ship.”
But the pro-life movement says it shouldn’t come to that.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which supported the AHCA, said the failure of the health care bill “only serves to intensify the pro-life movement’s efforts to re-direct taxpayer funding away from Planned Parenthood.”
“We will not flinch,” Ms. Dannenfelser said in a statement. “Instead, SBA List calls on the pro-life Congress and the pro-life President to immediately enact a new reconciliation bill that re-directs Planned Parenthood’s funding to community health centers. The language to do so has cleared any procedural hurdles and Congress has the votes to get it done. There are no excuses for inaction.”
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.