Senator Rand Paul’s proposed amendment stripping abortion mills of federal funds failed yesterday afternoon with 45 voting in favor, 48 against and 7 not voting.
Every Republican with the exception of Collins (R-ME) and Murkowski (R-AK) voted in favor of defunding the disgraced abortion facilities. Republican Senators Corker, Cruz, Fischer and McCain were absent.
Senator Paul’s amendment would have brought the Senate’s bill in line with the the House Appropriations Committee’s version of the bill, which in addition to stripping abortion providers of funds also defunded the Title X Family Planning Program. The House Appropriations Committee passed its Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill on July 11, 2018, and it has not yet been considered by the full House.
“Now, some have tried to make this issue about access to health care. The fact is, we have 9,000 Community Health Centers and only 700 Planned Parenthood clinics. The only thing you can get at Planned Parenthood that you can’t get anywhere else is an abortion. With limited resources and a skyrocketing debt, there’s absolutely no need for public funding of Planned Parenthood,” Paul said in a video statement.
Katherine Wheeler is a wife and mom living in the Twin Cities area. She worked for Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Her policy expertise is health and entitlements.
