Possible Speaker Candidate Jim Jordan Wants to Defund Planned Parenthood

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Apr 13, 2018   |   4:53PM   |   Washington, DC

A strong advocate against the abortion giant Planned Parenthood, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan’s name is being floated as a possible candidate for speaker of the House.

House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he will not seek re-election earlier this week. Since then, the media has been chattering about who will replace him.

Jordan, an Ohio Republican, is one possibility. He has been a passionate advocate for unborn babies, as well as efforts to defund the abortion giant Planned Parenthood, which performs about 320,000 abortions and reaps in about $500 million tax dollars annually.

According to Conservative Review, Jordan recently joined 24 other Republicans in voting against the omnibus spending bill, in part, because it included taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood. The House had previously approved a bill to defund Planned Parenthood but the Senate was not able to muster enough votes to approve it as all Democrats opposed it along with a handful of Republicans. Thus, there was no ability to defund Planned Parenthood in the omnibus.

Here’s more from the report:

In March, the Republican majority in Congress passed a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill. Jordan was one of just 25 House Republicans to vote against a procedural rule advancing the bill toward final passage and taking away the right of members to offer amendments to improve the bill or cut spending. …

“No wonder Americans hate this place. No wonder they’re cynical,” Jordan said. “This ticks me off. There’s just no other way to say it, and more importantly, it ticks off the American people, and it should.”

Jordan asked if Republicans would get back to doing what they told voters they would do. “Or are we going to keep doing pretend things like this?”

Back in 2015, Jordan also was one of the lawmakers who questioned Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards about selling aborted baby parts. The U.S. Congressional hearing was held soon after the Center for Medical Progress released its first several videos exposing the abortion chain’s baby body parts trade.

“If the videos were selectively edited, if this was entrapment, all untrue, then why did you apologize?” Jordan asked, referring to Richards’ statements after the first video was released.

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Richards refused to give a direct answer.

In regard to the speakership, the number two and number three Republicans in the House also are pro-life and could run for the position: Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, and North Carolina’s Mark Meadows, a leading voice of the conservative Freedom Caucus. All three have consistent pro-life voting records.

Though Ryan received criticism from some pro-lifers during his tenure, he actually did make pro-life legislation a priority in the U.S. House. However, the legislation died in the U.S. Senate because there were not enough votes.

Under Ryan’s leadership, the U.S. House passed many pro-life bills, including several to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider, a ban on late-term abortions after 20 weeks and more. However, the Senate fell a few vote short of passing the legislation defunding Planned Parenthood.