A significant number of House Republicans remain committed to shutting the federal government down over funding for Planned Parenthood, but other Republicans are developing a back-up plan that has allegedly been endorsed by House leadership.
Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), who has written legislation that would freeze Planned Parenthood funding for one year while Congress conducts an investigation into its fetal tissue program, says she doesn't support using the government funding bill as the only leverage in the fight. Another option, for instance, could be attaching a measure to defund the organization to a reconciliation bill to repeal ObamaCare that would only need 51 votes in the Senate.
Black said she has secured a “commitment” from House GOP leadership that her bill will get a floor vote in the coming weeks, according to her spokesman.
Representative Black is pursuing this alternative approach because, according to her spokesman, President Obama will not sign a government funding bill that would defund Planned Parenthood.
President Obama also won't sign a bill that repeals Obamacare, so it's not clear to me how this approach would be more successful.
This would give congressional Republicans a chance to cast a vote against Planned Parenthood without risking a government shutdown, but that's not good enough for some members of the House Freedom Caucus.
Establishment Rs say, "Wait till we have a GOP pres." If that happens, they'll say, "Wait till we have a filibuster-proof majority."#excuses
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) September 2, 2015
Point isn't that conservatives and libertarians should get everything they want; it's that GOP needs leaders actually interested in trying.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) September 2, 2015
This is precisely why none of the top three Republican frontrunners for president have ever held elected office. The lunatic base sees their elected leaders as failures.
We know the anti-Planned Parenthood smear videos to be a documented fraud, but we also knew that wouldn't make a difference.