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WASHINGTON, D.C., November 12, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) — Senate Republicans have won a key procedural victory that brings the Senate one stop closer to passing a measure to defund Planned Parenthood.

Tuesday morning, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that the GOP can include language to defund Planned Parenthood in a reconciliation measure that will avoid a Senate filibuster.

The bill itself mostly focuses on repealing portions of the Affordable Care Act, but House Republicans included the defund rider.

However, a signature from President Obama – a leading supporter of both Planned Parenthood and the Affordable Care Act – is unlikely to the extreme. At the same time, the bill gives Republicans the chance to earn points with the base by forcing the president to veto the bills, and showing that the GOP is paying attention to the base's concerns.

The parliamentarian's decision solves only one hurdle for the Senate's GOP leadership, which has 54 seats and needs 51 to pass the bill.

Currently, three moderate GOP Senators may not vote for the bill if it includes the Planned Parenthood defunding measure, and two conservative lawmakers running for President of the United States — Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas — say the House bill doesn't strip enough of the health care law to earn their votes.

Republicans may make the bill more conservative by expanding what parts of the health care law get repealed.

Another problem, according to Politico, is MacDonough's ruling that repealing the individual and employer insurance mandates does not fit with a reconciliation bill. Republicans may put those provisions back into the bill at another time.

Call your senator: (202) 224-3121

Correction: This article originally misidentified Sen. Rand Paul as a third presidential contender in the Senate who opposed the defunding measure. Cruz and Rubio are the only two.