Defunding Planned Parenthood

GOP Votes to Give States Rights to Withdraw Funding from Planned Parenthood, by PolitiChicks, 4/1/17 The ball is now in President Trump’s court.

From Daily Wire: On Thursday, Senate Republicans, determined to end the power grab by the federal government and return power to the states, held together (with two exceptions) and voted to eliminate an Obama administration rule that banned states from blocking funding for family planning clinics that also provide abortions.

The vote was highly dramatic, and reminiscent in its way of the vote for the Declaration of Independence, when Delaware representative Caesar Rodney, sick with cancer, rode 80 miles through a thunderstorm on the night of July 1, 1776, to make sure the Delaware delegation voted for independence, crucial since the vote of the states had to be unanimous.

In this case it was Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson, who had undergone two back surgeries, receiving permission from his doctors to travel, but only for one day. The vote was delayed for an hour so Isakson could vote; he arrived in a wheelchair and was transferred to a walker, then gave a thumbs-up in the Senate chamber.

Isakson’s vote ensured a 50-50 tie, since two female GOP senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted with the Democrats against the bill. Because of the tie, Vice-President Mike Pence’s vote ensured that the measure would pass.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, celebrated, “Today, Congress is sending a resolution to President Trump ensuring that states are not forced to fund America’s abortion giant, Planned Parenthood, with Title X tax dollars.” Senator Joni Ernst added, “It should be the right of our states to allocate sub-grants under the Title X program in the way that best fits the needs of the people living there. Unfortunately, like many other rules issued during the Obama administration, this rule attempted to empower federal bureaucrats in Washington and silence our states.”

http://politichicks.com/2017/04/gop-votes-give-states-rights-withdraw-funding-planned-parenthood/