Democrats save Planned Parenthood after Republicans vow to push measure through

Home Top

Bankrupt 50 Cent's mansion costs him $70k a MONTH to maintain: Broke rapper's new filing reveals the extraordinary costs of his luxury life (and all previous owners of his home went bankrupt too!)
Sons of 9/11 victim grew up poor and were never told they were worth $1m: Their dad died in the kitchen of Windows on the World - then their payout bounced between bureaucrats for a DECADE
'Do you believe in love at first sight... or should I walk around you three more times?': The five cringe-worthy pick up lines that actually DO work revealed
More than 450 civilians, including 100 children, have been killed by US-led coalition airstrikes against ISIS, claims report
Six-year-old girl killed alongside another spectator in circus tent collapse that left another 15 injured in New Hampshire
Trump wins by NOT showing up at final warmup before first GOP debate - as rivals squabble without naming him and new poll gives him 26 per cent of primary voters
Democrats save Planned Parenthood from being stripped of cash - for now - after horror abortion videos as Republicans vow to push measure through
Obama to meet with Jewish leaders to push Iran nuclear deal as poll shows American public opposes pact with ayatollahs
Jeb Bush tells how he has lost 'lost 40 pounds in six months' on the Paleo diet
Jeb is miserable at my rise, crows Trump: Republican frontrunner laughs at claims Bush is happy at The Donald hurting rest of field
Joe Biden IS considering run for presidency White House admits as it says he needs time to consider taking on Hillary
President Obama goes without his wedding ring for the weekend
Marry Mia Farrow? I've scotch older than her: That's what Dean Martin told Sinatra. If only he'd listened!
Is this why women wear their coats in the office? Air conditioning temperatures in the office are based on the preferences of a middle-aged male
It's not Viagra he needs... it's testosterone: Many men think those little blue pills are all it takes to pep up a flagging love life. But new research suggests they're VERY wrong
Could pears be the best hangover cure going? Fruit's juice can reduce effects of a night's drinking by up to a fifth
Apple's Siri set to transcribe messages so iPhone users never have to listen to another voicemail
Father Bobby Brown is nowhere to be seen at final goodbye for Bobbi Kristina: Cissy Houston and Dionne Warwick lead the mourners as she is buried next to her mother in New Jersey cemetery
Two shot at J. Cole concert: Hunt for gunman who opened fire and left two victims fighting for life after argument in parking lot in New Jersey
Brown and Houston families at WAR as photo of Bobbi Kristina in her casket 'is sold for six figures' with both sides blaming one another for the leaked picture
PIERS MORGAN: The best tribute Whitney and Bobbi Kristina's greedy, grasping, fame-hungry relatives and friends could pay them is to shut the f*** up
London to New York in just ONE HOUR: Airbus files patent for a hypersonic jet more than double the speed of Concorde
Ease the AGONY of sunburn: It can be a sign of significant skin damage. Here's how to reduce the redness and pain
'Every time I sat down to eat I was thinking - skinny or fat?' From living off diet coke and tins of tuna, food author reveals how she quit fad diets and started eating to feel good

Sets the stage for the GOP to try again this fall amid higher stakes — a potential government shutdown
derailed legislation was the Republican response to videos, recorded secretly by anti-abortion activists, of Planned Parenthood officials
Group is accused of providing medical researchers with tissue from aborted fetuses for profit
Monday's mostly party-line vote was 53-46; fell seven short of the 60 votes Republicans needed to halt Democratic delays aimed at derailing the bill

By Ap and Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent For Dailymail.com

Published: 20:13 EST, 3 August 2015 | Updated: 20:27 EST, 3 August 2015

View
comments

The Senate blocked a Republican drive Monday to terminate federal funds for Planned Parenthood, setting the stage for the GOP to try again this fall amid higher stakes — a potential government shutdown that could echo into next year's presidential and congressional elections.

The derailed legislation was the Republican response to videos, recorded secretly by anti-abortion activists, showing Planned Parenthood officials dispassionately discussing how they sometimes provide medical researchers with tissue from aborted fetuses as the sipped wine.

Those videos have led conservatives to accuse the group of illegally selling the organs for profit — claims strongly denied by Planned Parenthood — and inserted abortion and women's health into the mix of issues to be argued in the 2016 campaign.

Monday's mostly party-line vote was 53-46 and fell seven short of the 60 votes the Republicans needed to halt Democratic delays aimed at derailing the bill.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Democratic lawmakers speak at a news conference on the funding for Planned Parenthood on Capitol Hill tolday. Republican legislation prohibiting federal funding for Planned Parenthood failed to gather enough support in the U.S. Senate, halting at least for now moves to punish the group for its role in gathering fetal tissue from abortions

Even so, the GOP is hoping to reap political gains because the videos have ignited the party's core conservative, anti-abortion voters.

The fight is already creating heated talking points for Republican presidential candidates, who convened tonight at the first major forum of the 2016 campaign.

Several, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, are calling for Congress to end Planned Parenthood's federal payments.

The pair and Florida Senator Marco Rubio stayed in Washington today in order to vote, appearing at the New Hampshire event via video. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham skipped the evening vote, leaving the GOP one vote shorter than it would have been.

Still, it would have needed to win over a handful of additional Democrats to its side in order to be successful.

In the longer term, GOP leaders are hoping that three congressional committees' investigations, plus probes in several states and the expected release of additional videos, will produce evidence of Planned Parenthood wrongdoing and make it harder for Democrats to defend the organization.

Planned Parenthood provides contraception, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and abortions in clinics from coast to coast.

Democrats' were largely muted when the videos were first distributed, but their defense of Planned Parenthood has grown more robust in recent days.

During Monday's debate, they sounded a theme they have employed in recent elections, characterizing the GOP drive as an assault on health care for women.

'It's our obligation to protect our wives, our sisters, our daughters, our granddaughters' from the GOP's 'absurd policies,' said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. 'The Republican Party has lost its moral compass.'

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Democrats should not protect Planned Parenthood's federal funds 'just to protect some political group,' an apparent reference to the organization's one-sided campaign contributions to Democratic candidates.

Monday's vote fell mostly along party lines, 53-46. The only senators to cross party lines were Democrats Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia - above - and Illinois Republican Mark Kirk, who faces a tough re-election fight next year

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said, 'The American taxpayer should not be asked to fund an organization like Planned Parenthood that has shown a sheer disdain for human dignity and complete disregard for women and their babies.'

Ernst sponsored the measure as party leaders sought ways to blunt Democratic charges of GOP insensitivity to women.

The only senators to cross party lines were Democrats Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Illinois Republican Mark Kirk, who faces a tough re-election fight next year.

McConnell joined Democrats in voting to block the bill, a procedural move that allows him to force a fresh vote later.

The anti-abortion Center for Medical Progress has so far released four videos in which people posing as representatives of a company that purchases fetal tissue converse with Planned Parenthood officials. The videos have been especially controversial because of the casual descriptions by the Planned Parenthood officials of the abortion procedures they use to obtain tissue, and because some of the videos show close-ups of fetal organs in laboratories.

The center and some of its GOP supporters have said the videos show that Planned Parenthood sells the tissue for profit, which is illegal under federal law.

Hillary Clinton shows her support for Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood says the videos are selectively edited and that the organization only recovers costs of the procedures — which is legal — and only gives the tissue to researchers with a mother's advance consent and in fewer than five states.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for president, has spoken out in support of the organization several times in the past week, after at having at one point called the videos 'disturbing,' and reiterated her backing of the group ahead of tonight's vote.

'I’m proud to stand with Planned Parenthood, I’ll never stop fighting to protect the ability and right of every woman in this country to make her own health decisions,' she said in a video released by her campaign this afternoon.

The conservative Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life group, said in a corresponding statement after the Senate vote that 'with Hillary Clinton and other national Democratic leaders doubling down on their support for unlimited abortion on-demand, up until the moment of birth, paid for by taxpayers, voters and pundits should expect to see the abortion issue play a major role in the upcoming general election.'

'The majority of Americans who support common ground limits will be looking for pro-life candidates who lead on this issue. Meanwhile, Susan B. Anthony List will work hard to ensure voters do not forget who fails to stand for the most innocent among us.'

Anti-abortion activists hold a rally opposing federal funding for Planned Parenthood in front of the U.S. Capitol last week. Tonight's Senate vote set the stage for the GOP to try again this fall amid higher stakes — a potential government shutdown that could echo into next year's presidential and congressional elections

A gaggle of Republican Senators vowed to keep fighting to yank the group's federal funding, as well, in statements after the failed legislative effort.

'Their egregious practices portrayed in the videos that have been released over the last several weeks show a callous organization unworthy of taxpayer dollars,' said Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. 'Regrettably, Senate Democrats refused to even allow for an open and honest debate on this issue.

'Rest assured, I will continue to honor the God-given rights to life and liberty enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by our Constitution by striving to guarantee those rights to the ones least able to defend themselves—the unborn,' Cotton said.

Federal agencies run out of money on Oct. 1, and Congress is tasked with passing legislation by then temporarily keeping the doors open until lawmakers and President Barack Obama can reach a longer-term agreement.

Stung by past government shutdowns that voters have blamed on Republicans, GOP leaders have shown no interest in another one this fall.

But it could be challenging for those Republican leaders to control their most conservative lawmakers, who are urged on by the party's anti-abortion activists.

Republican South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney has said he expects to get several dozen signatures on a letter opposing any spending bill containing money for Planned Parenthood, and some GOP senators, including Cruz, Paul and others, have voiced similar sentiments.

The fight is already creating heated talking points for Republican presidential candidates, who convened tonight at the first major forum of the 2016 campaign. Ted Cruz, above, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio skipped the gathering in order to vote on the Planned Parenthood funding. They appeared at the forum via video

The Republican measure calls for funneling Planned Parenthood's federal dollars to other providers of health care to women, including hospitals, state and local agencies and federally financed community health centers.

Republicans say that transfer would enable women to continue receiving the health care they need because Planned Parenthood's nearly 700 clinics are far outnumbered by other providers.

Planned Parenthood and Democrats contest that. They say many of the organization's centers are in areas with few alternatives for reproductive health care or for other services for the low-income women who comprise a majority of its clients.

Planned Parenthood receives more than $500 million yearly in government funds — including state payments — more than one-third of its annual $1.3 billion in revenue. Its annual report says it provides services for 2.7 million people annually, mostly women, with abortions accounting for 3 percent.

By law, federal funds are already barred from being used for abortions except for cases of incest, rape or when a woman's life is in danger.