Eight Republicans, several of whom support abortion rights, voted with 42 Democrats and two independents to kill the measure.
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Cruz went on to explain that many establishment Republicans fear we could never win this fight. “The majority of Americans agree that it’s time to work together to keep our country running”, Hirono said.
The move to defund Planned Parenthood was sparked by the release of videos this summer that were secretly recorded by anti-abortion activists, showing Planned Parenthood staff negotiating prices for aborted fetal tissue, for legal research purposes. Following Boehner’s announcement, House Republicans said there was agreement to pass a clean spending bill to avert a government shutdown.
But this fight isn’t over, and President Obama says he will veto any measure that he believes will limit access to health care for US citizens.
Democrats blocked a vote on a bill to extend current funding because it would have deleted money for Planned Parenthood for a year. House Republican leaders were huddling in the Capitol following the Senate vote.
“Using the budget reconciliation process for anything other than full repeal of Obamacare is a distraction, and means GOP leaders broke their promise”, said Dan Holler, a spokesman for the group.
GOP leaders like Boehner have counseled privately that it’s a doomed strategy and want to avoid a repeat of the 2013 closure, which hurt the party politically. “Every time the government was kept open it was because Democratic votes overwhelmingly made sure that happened”.
A Christian conservative group is again calling on Republican Governor Terry Branstad to use his executive power and stop any taxpayer dollars from going to Planned Parenthood organizations in Iowa. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate GOP’s campaign committee.
Some senators, including Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz of Texas, have insisted that the only way to defund Planned Parenthood is to attach the language to must-pass legislation such as the spending measure. The measure, which included the anti-abortion language, needed 60 votes to advance but failed, 52 to 47.
The issue of Planned Parenthood funding is important but extraneous to the business of funding the government, Hoyer added. (D-6th Dist.), has said that the charges are “unsubstantiated.”
And if Obama forces a shutdown, it’s worth remembering that during the last government slowdown, operations associated with roughly 80 percent of government spending continued, including pay for military personnel, national security, Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries and everything else federal law deems “essential”.
Other GOP freshmen from conservative districts, such as Reps.
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Boehner (R-Ohio), faced with a constant conservative rebellion, told Republicans Friday morning that he will resign at the end of October, according to aides and lawmakers in a closed-door meeting.
