Congress goes on record on Planned Parenthood, Obamacare

By Doug Carlson - Apr 21, 2011 - 1 -

In a final item of business before exiting Washington Friday for a two-week break, a majority of lawmakers made good on a deal between the White House and congressional leadership to keep the government running through the end of the budget year. Yet the much debated final figure on the cuts—just over $38 billion—is not the whole of the story. Inseparable from the agreement were forced votes on two touchstone issues: defunding both the nation’s largest abortion provider and the unpopular health care law of 2010.

The sparks flew in rapid succession. By a decisive 241-185 tally, the House voted Thursday to cut off funding from Planned Parenthood for the remainder of this budget year. By an almost identical tally, 240-185, the House also approved a resolution to withhold funds from the 2010 health care reform law, which authorizes federal funding of abortion and, among other things, requires Americans to purchase health insurance and puts the government in the center of the doctor-patient relationship.

Unfortunately, these victories were not well received in the chamber across the Capitol. Minutes after the duo of House votes, the Senate rejected both. The Planned Parenthood measure fell in defeat 42-58, while the Obamacare measure failed 47-53. With that, the abortion funding streams will flow for another six months.

But the votes served important purposes: putting members of Congress on record and keeping the issues front and center. This marks the second time the newly configured House has come face to face with taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood—the House voted in February, 240-185, to loose taxpayers from the nation’s No. 1 abortion provider. And in the Senate, the vote put the current body of 100 on record for the first time on defunding the organization that performed more than 332,000 abortions in 2009—nearly 1,000 per day—and took in more than $363 million during that period. Pro-lifers must press to ensure this roll call is not the last.

Last week’s fireworks also mark the second time in as many months that Congress has had to face up to health care reform. In February, the House rebuked Obamacare 245-189 in a vote not simply to defund the law but to repeal it—a turning of the tables from less than a year ago, when the House pushed reform across the finish line, 219-212. Thursday’s clash of ideologies meant round 2 for the Senate as well on the issue. Senators seeking new, sensible reform had also forced a vote in February on the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act to wipe reform off the books and start over. Regrettably, the Senate fell short on the repeal vote, with 47 senators supporting repeal and 51 in opposition.

That an impasse remains on the pair of issues is most unfortunate. It is not, however, the end of the story. Sanctity of human life issues are not on the down and out. Rather, they are on the up and coming. Consider also that a reinstatement of a ban on federal funding of elective abortion in the District of Columbia did become part of the budget deal. This is forward progress.

As long as the American people keep the conversation alive and keep pressure on their lawmakers to pull the abortion industry’s purse strings, Congress will continue to vote on the issue. And in due time, prayerfully, majorities in both houses of Congress and the White House will no longer ignore the deeply held convictions of millions of Americans but will choose instead to honor them.

As your representative and senators spend the next two weeks in your district and state, you may want to register your appreciation or dissatisfaction with them for their votes on the resolutions to cut off your tax dollars from the nation’s leading abortion provider and the takeover of health care reform.

Further Learning

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{comment_total} comments

1 On Apr 22nd, 2011, at 1:53am, Charles Priddy` wrote:

do not supply money to support abortions.  Life is life and must be protected.

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