Congressman Steve King weighed in on H.R. 3134, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, in a statement published on Wednesday in which the congressman said that we shouldn’t be sending “any funds whatsoever to Planned Parenthood” because the bill “does not defund Planned Parenthood” and instead, “reauthorizes Planned Parenthood to perform abortions with federal funds in the cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother.”
We should not be sending any funds whatsoever to Planned Parenthood (…) H.R. 3134 simply restates current law – the Hyde Amendment. This bill does not defund Planned Parenthood – it reauthorizes Planned Parenthood to perform abortions with federal funds in the cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother. It does not take away any of their other streams of funding from the federal government or reduce federal funding to Planned Parenthood by even one dollar.
H.R. 3134 seeks to impose a one-year moratorium on federal funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, its affiliates and clinics unless they certify that they will not perform, or provide funds to any other entity that performs, an abortion.
Mr. King said in his recently released statement that the bill is “a huge step backwards from the initial conservative position that Planned Parenthood should not be receiving funds.”
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a cost estimate of the bill which estimates that the combination of its effect “would reduce direct spending by $255 million in 2016 and by $295 million over the 2016-2025 period.” Such savings would, according to the CBO, be offset by increased spending for other Medicaid services.
As a result of what King referred to as “gruesome practices” made evident by the recent Planned Parenthood videos, he’s offered an amendment which, according to him, simply states: “No funds authorized or appropriated by Federal law may be made available for any purpose to Planned Parenthood.”
My amendment says: ‘No funds authorized or appropriated by Federal law may be made available for any purpose to Planned Parenthood… any affiliate or clinic of Planned Parenthood… any successor.’
Congressman King expects “much stronger language than this in the CR coming up in the next few weeks.”
The funding fight starts now – this is our marker – H.R. 3134 is not a sufficient vote to defund Planned Parenthood. I expect much stronger language than this in the CR coming up in the next few weeks. Innocent, unborn babies deserve more than just a show vote.
Amid investigation into abortions performed at the organization’s clinics, the University of Missouri has cancelled 10 contracts across four states which the university previously held with the organization — bringing the university’s 26-year relationship with the organization to an end, the Associated Press reported via The Republic.
