Senate to Vote Early Next Week on Amdt on Cutting Planned Parenthood Funds
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 6, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — It appears the Senate will likely vote on a pro-life amendment to cut federal funding of Planned Parenthood early next week. The vote will likely occur on either Monday or Tuesday as the Senate continues its debate on the omnibus spending bill that also funds the nation’s largest abortion business.
Senate leaders today agreed to allow votes on several Republican-sponsored amendments to the omnibus spending bill next week.
Among those is an amendment sponsored by pro-life Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana prevent taxpayers from having their money sent from the federal government to Planned Parenthood.
While the money Planned Parenthood receives from Title X funds doesn’t pay for abortions directly, Vitter says it still helps the abortion business.
Senate Democrats had hoped to approve the spending bill (HR 1105) yesterday but did not have 60 votes to stop debate because a couple of Democrats joined with Republicans to allow it to continue.
As a result, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid capitulated and allowed votes on the amendments, including Vitter’s, as early as Monday evening.
Sen. Jon Kyl , a pro-life Republican from Arizona, told CQ that, “Republicans are going to get a vote on all the amendments we want to vote on.
Vitter says it is "outlandish" that current federal regulations do not make Planned Parenthood separate the federal funds it receives for family planning from its abortion business money.
"This ambiguity has allowed organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, to receive large sums of federal funding for ‘reproductive health activity’ programs and often channel these federal dollars to clinics that perform abortions to pay for overhead expenses like electricity bills and office support staff -– freeing up other funds for abortions," he said.
"The federal government should not use taxpayer dollars to pay for acts that so many Americans find morally wrong. And my amendment would have closed a loophole for taxpayer funded abortions," Vitter said.
The last time the Senate voted on his amendment, it was defeated 52-41.
The vote on the Vitter amendment comes after the Senate failed to approve an amendment by Roger Wicker of Mississippi to stop federal funding for the UNFPA because it supports the Chinese population control program that includes forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations.
It also comes after the Senate defeated an amendment to restore the Mexico City Policy, the pro-life provision President Barack Obama rescinded that preventing funding groups that perform or promote abortions overseas.
ACTION: Contact your members of the Senate and urge strong support for the Vitter amendment to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood. You can find contact information for any senator at https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
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