WASHINGTON, D.C., March 2, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — A Democratic staffer on the House's Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives spent more than three years working in public policy for Planned Parenthood, according to her LinkedIn page.
Originally cited by LegiStorm's “Caught Our Eye,” staffer Vanessa Cramer's background includes three years and one month of employment with Planned Parenthood as a “public policy coordinator.”
The committee on which Cramer serves was created last year and today is holding a panel hearing on the ethics of fetal tissue research.
According to Cramer's LinkedIn page, she “managed legislative database tracking federal bills of interest and potential vehicles for women’s health policy riders” and “played key role assembling briefing materials for senior leadership and outside counsel during the 2011 House Energy & Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee’s investigation into Planned Parenthood.”
The job came after Cramer worked for eight months as a legislative correspondent for Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-NY. Ackerman is a longtime supporter of abortion, voting against the partial-birth abortion ban and against the criminalization of harming an unborn child in the midst of a crime.
Cramer's employment with Planned Parenthood ended in 2011. She has since worked in government and public affairs positions for DLA Piper and Sirona Strategies, and began working for the Democratic Members of the panel this year.
The office of the investigative panel's Chairwoman, Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn, declined to comment on the hiring of Cramer. The office of the panel's Ranking Member, Illinois Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Democrats on the select committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The investigative panel was created last year by then-Speaker John Boehner in response to undercover videos by the Center for Medical Progress that showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing illegal profits off of the harvesting of fetal parts.
In her opening statement at today's first of two hearings, Schakowsky, called the panel's investigations “a partisan and dangerous witch hunt.”