WASHINGTON, D.C., March 14, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The latest stopgap budget bill (H.J. Res 48), which would fund the U.S. government through to April 8 while negotiations over a final budget bill continue, has again failed to include the cut to Planned Parenthood that was voted last month into the House’s original Continuing Resolution.
At the same time, one Republican senator has come out against ending taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, a development that could presage an even more difficult battle for the defunding effort in the upper chamber.
In a letter to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee last week, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska condemned the amendment offered by Rep. Mike Pence that de-funded Planned Parenthood in the Continuing Resolution, H.R. 1. “I believe Planned Parenthood provides vital services to those in need and disagree with their funding cuts in the bill,” she said.
Murkowski had nonetheless voted in favor of H.R. 1 last week, when the bill was defeated in the Senate 44-56, saying that she wanted “to send a clear signal that I’m serious about reducing the deficit.”
Another Republican senator has also called in question a separate amendment in the House budget bill that removed Title X family planning funding. Planned Parenthood is a major beneficiary of Title X funds, in addition to other organizations that provide contraceptives.
A spokesman for Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, known for her leftist and pro-abortion leanings, told Politico that the senator considered ending Title X “unwise” because it has “successfully reduced the number of unplanned pregnancies, therefore helping to reduce health care costs.”
Top abortion supporters such as Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards and House Minority Speaker Nancy Pelosi have argued for universal health coverage of contraception based on the premise that fewer children born reduces government expense to care for them.
However, House Majority Leader John Boehner on Friday continued to defend the scope of funding cuts originally envisioned by House Republicans and passed in H.R. 1.
“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.”