Republicans slam Planned Parenthood chief over secretly filmed abortion videos as Congress spars over a half-BILLION in funding

• The Planned Parenthood president testified before Congress on Tuesday - the first time since 'sting' videos about the group surfaced in July
• Republicans grilled Cecile Richards about her agency's salaries, travel costs, accounting and political activity
• The four-hour session often turned into a political debate over abortion
• Richards says access to women's health services would shrink without federal funding
• The House Oversight Committee is one of four congressional committees that are investigating Planned Parenthood 

By J. Taylor Rushing, U.s. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com

Published: 11:47 EST, 29 September 2015 | Updated: 01:07 EST, 30 September 2015

Congressional Republicans on Tuesday excoriated the head of Planned Parenthood in her first Capitol Hill appearance since a string of secretly filmed videos surfaced this summer showing agency officials discuss the handling of fetal tissue.

Making the most of their opportunity to grill Cecile Richards, the organization’s president, Republicans scrutinized her agency’s salaries, travel costs, accounting and political activity.

The result was a highly charged, four-hour-plus hearing punctuated with sparks and sharp exchanges that often steered back and forth into a political debate over abortion.

Richards is the top executive of the controversial agency, which provides reproductive health services, including abortions. In the last ten weeks it has played a central role in a possible shutdown of the federal government. 

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards making her first appearance before Congress on Tuesday, after secretly filmed videos surfaced over the summer alleging her agency was involved in selling fetal tissue

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz emerged as Richards's earliest and sharpest critic

The House Oversight Committee is one of four congressional committees currently investigating Planned Parenthood - with House Speaker John Boehner vowing on Sunday to establish a standing committee to also probe the agency.

Richards defended it against criticism from Republican after Republican on the House committee who assailed Planned Parenthood for misusing federal funds for lavish parties, exorbitant travel costs, lobbying and other political activity.

Members stopped just short of directly accusing Richards of criminal activity, and she noted several times that she was appearing voluntarily and had cooperated with the committee’s investigation of the agency.

Key to her testimony was her claim that without federal funding, access to womens’ services at approximately 700 health clinics across the country would shrink.

A small majority of the Planned Parenthood clinics are in rural or ‘medically under-served’ areas, Richards said.

‘For many American women, Planned Parenthood is the only healthcare provider they will see,’ she said. ‘This would threaten their ability to go to a facility of their choice.’

Rep, Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, took Richards to task several times during the four-hour hearing

Richards (pictured on Tuesday) has led Planned Parenthood since 2006 and told Congress that yanking its federal funding would imperil access to healthcare for millions of American women

She also attacked the ‘deceptively edited’ videos that have purported to implicate the agency in selling fetal tissue for profit.

Richards said the organization behind the ‘smear campaign', the Center for Medical Progress, simply wanted to make abortion illegal and ‘failed’ to entrap Planned Parenthood-affiliated doctors and technicians into breaking the law.

Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, was one of Richards’ sharpest critics, noting she receives a $600,000 annual salary and suggesting that Planned Parenthood is deceptively engaged in federally funded political activity. He called the agency's salaries ‘massive.’

Richards said political activity is kept separate from Planned Parenthood’s federal funding and that her agency regularly submits to federal audits intended to ensure compliance. She also said she has submitted ‘tens of thousands’ of documents to the committee.

But others said the sheer size of Planned Parenthood’s operations and fundraising skills made it unsuitable for taxpayer funds.

‘Why do you need federal money?’ asked Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming. ‘You’re making a ton of dough.’

Cecile Richards being sworn in on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. There are four congressional committees investigating Planned Parenthood, with another committee announced on Sunday by John Boehner

Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) is seen on a monitor as he questions Richards. The hearing was so heavily attended that a large overflow room was used to accommodate those who could not squeeze into the regular committee room

Lummis also pressed Richards about abortion's role in Planned Parenthood's services and revenue.

Under the questioning, Richards said abortions make up only 3 per cent of the agency's services but provide 86 per cent of its revenue - chiefly because such procedures are many times more expensive than other services, she said.

Richards also acknowledged that Planned Parenthood performs breast exams on women who need them - but that none of the agency's clinics actually perform mammograms.

For those services, she said the agency issues referrals. 

Democrats defended Richards and Planned Parenthood – as well as Republicans on the committee for criticizing everything from Richards’ salary to her agency’s engagement of a legal practice.

‘I’ve never before seen a woman so beaten up by men about her salary,’ said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. ‘It’s totally inappropriate and discriminatory.’

Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., went even further.

‘Who do you think you are?’ he asked of GOP committee members. ‘The disrespect and misogyny rampant here today tells us what is really going on here.’

The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said Democrats tried to compel David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, to testify alongside Richards at Tuesday’s hearing – but were blocked by Republican committee leaders.

Chaffetz said he invited Daleiden to testify, but was unable to secure his testimony because a court in California is blocking the public release of the unedited versions of the videos.

Planned Parenthood has an annual budget of about $1.3 billion, of which $528 million, or 41 percent, comes in the form of grants and reimbursements from the federal government.

The agency provides about 300,000 abortions each year among a wide variety of other women’s health services that include breast exams, cancer screenings, birth control and treatments for diseases.

A total of 2. 7million women use services from the organization, many of whom are low-income women who have no other form of health care.

Federal funding for abortion in most cases has been prohibited since 1976, when Congress passed a clause called the Hyde Amendment that has been inserted into annual appropriations bills each year since then.

But critics say that funding Planned Parenthood even partially with federal money essentially endorses funding for abortion procedures, since the agency can shift funds around within its budget.

‘It’s the co-mingling,’ said Chaffetz. ‘Every dollar that you get in federal dollars means you don’t necessarily have to allocate it for these particular assets. That’s what we’re concerned about.’

Tuesday’s hearing came at the climax of a broiling battle this summer over funding for Planned Parenthood – and for the federal government.

Republicans in both the House and Senate have to block federal funding for the agency, but Democrats in the Senate united to deny the necessary votes.

That forced the issue into becoming a key pawn in this fall’s political struggle on Capitol Hill over funding the government past the end of the fiscal year on Wednesday. Socially conservative legislators pushed their party leaders into the fight and were angered enough when the tactic didn’t work to threaten government funding as a result.

Both House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell struck more measured tones throughout the summer and fall, trying to appease both sides of the GOP by promising votes to de-fund Planned Parenthood but also pledging to continue funding the government.

The fight left Boehner with an even wobblier hold on his speakership, which ended last week when he announced he would step down from his position – and resign from Congress – sometime in October.

The spending fight largely ended on Monday in the Senate, where members voted overwhelmingly to clear a so-called “clean” spending bill that would not include de-funding the controversial agency.

The White House on Monday also issued a statement saying it would veto any legislative effort to de-fund Planned Parenthood, pointing out that federal law already bans taxpayer money for abortions.

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