Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Urge Your Senators to Vote to Defund Planned Parenthood



David Christensen
Vice President for Government Affairs
Family Research Council 


The Senate has a unique opportunity to defund Planned Parenthood by 80% and repeal key parts of ObamaCare with only 51 votes instead of the usual 60! The Senate is expected to bring forward a budget bill called a "reconciliation" bill which on budgetary matters that only requires 51 votes. There are 54 Republicans in the Senate. The Senate Parliamentarian has reportedly agreed that the House-passed provision blocking federal funds for abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, Medicare, and other programs would comply with the strict Senate rules—called the Byrd Rule—for 51 votes on this bill. Senators must hear from you to support the provision blocking funding for Planned Parenthood and support for the bill. If Republicans vote no either because of the pro-life provision, or because the bill doesn't "do enough" on ObamaCare, this rare opportunity to pass a significant bill blocking funds for Planned Parenthood—which obtains over $400 million per year in Medicaid alone—will be missed.

The bill can cut a massive portion of your taxpayer dollars that fund Planned Parenthood and does serious damage to ObamaCare.

The House bill passed by an overwhelming majority by a vote of 240-189, with only 7 of 246 Republicans voting "No." This bill's ObamaCare provisions must also comply with the strict Senate budget rules to use the 51 vote threshold. ObamaCare provisions that are more policy than budget must pass with 60 votes, but the Senate already failed in August to achieve 60 votes to repeal all of ObamaCare. The Senate bill is expected to improve on the House passed bill which cuts employer mandate and the individual mandate fines and cuts spending from the "prevention fund" which is a government slush fund. Repealing these and other parts of ObamaCare would alleviate federal pressure on people who are forced to purchase health insurance which they may find objectionable, such as including coverage for elective abortion coverage. Repealing the employer mandate would remove federal pressure on employers who are mandated to pay for the HHS mandate contraceptives.

While the special rules on Reconciliation cannot be used to defund ALL federal funding for Planned Parenthood, it CAN be used to cut millions from their pocket book—roughly 80%.

We can't allow the desire to repeal all of ObamaCare to prevent conservatives from trying to gut key parts of ObamaCare, especially on this budget reconciliation bill which only requires 51 votes in the Senate.

Please urge your Senators to vote FOR the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act; and ask them to support eliminating Planned Parenthood's funding and to repeal as much of ObamaCare as the budget rules allow.

Urge your Senators to vote to Defund Planned Parenthood on the Reconciliation Budget bill by clicking on the button below.



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