Conservatives in Congress have been indicating for weeks that they’re ready to shut down the government over Planned Parenthood. For many, the $500 million the group receives every year to provide women’s health services is unacceptable, given the role it plays as the nation’s largest single provider of abortions.
The latter idea certainly seems to resonate with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). At an anti-abortion rally on the Capitol’s southeast lawn on Thursday, the presidential candidate did not say he would rather shut down the government than fund Planned Parenthood — but he did imply that there was no circumstance that would cause him to vote for giving the organization money.
“I don’t know about the rest of Congress, but I plan on taking a stand and saying, ‘Not one penny more for Planned Parenthood,’” he said to cheers from the crowd of about 100 people. “I have never voted for any funds for Planned Parenthood, and I never will.”
To be clear, the federal funds that Planned Parenthood receives are not allowed to be used for abortion. In fact, the organization states that only 3 percent of its services are devoted to abortion, while STI testing and treatment, contraception, and cancer screenings make up the vast majority — though the Washington Post’s fact-checker has labeled that statistic misleading, because it considers each small service like a pregnancy test equal to an abortion, which is more costly and extensive.
Still, the release of sting videos this summer meant to discredit Planned Parenthood has prompted a growing number of Republicans to intensify their rhetoric against the organization, which they accuse of profiting off the sale of aborted fetal tissue. At the rally on Thursday, abortion opponents called on Congress to do whatever it takes to get Planned Parenthood’s funding out of the federal budget.
Paul — joined unexpectedly by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — told them he would take up the call. What’s more, he said he has a plan not only to get it done, but also to blame it on Democrats if it the government shuts down over it.
Paul’s logic went like this: Instead of including money for Planned Parenthood in a bill funding the entire government, Senate Republicans should pressure Democrats to put the organization’s funding in a separate bill. That way, the government funding bill can pass without controversy — and then, the burden would rest on Democrats to get 60 votes to approve Planned Parenthood’s money.
“[Democrats] do not have 60 votes to fund Planned Parenthood, so long as we separate the bills,” Paul said. “We should demand nothing less than a separate vote.”
It’s unclear how this would work specifically. Right now, Planned Parenthood receives a lot of its federal funding from Title X, a grant program for family planning providers that service low-income families. It also gets funding from Medicaid, which must by law provide funds to “all qualified health care providers.” At the rally and in a conversation with reporters afterward, Paul was not clear whether the separate bill should include all of Planned Parenthood’s funding including Medicaid, or just the organization’s Title X money. The latter would not be surprising, as some Republicans have been trying to eliminate Title X funding entirely since at least 2011.
However the bill is structured, Paul said that if Democrats don’t agree to make a Planned Parenthood vote separate, that’s when Republicans can direct the blame to them.
“[Republicans] should point the finger and say, ‘If you want to shut down the government over spending money on harvesting organs from babies, so be it,’” he said. “But we will take a stand.”
Speaking to reporters as she left the rally, Palin agreed, saying Congress should send President Obama legislation that funds the government, but not Planned Parenthood.
“The will of the people is for our tax dollars to go toward right priorities for our nation, not toward killing babies,” she said. “The public needs to hold the media’s feet to the fire if the media starts spinning it that somehow this is the Republicans’ fault because one line item is not a part of this budget — that, by the way, is a bankrupt, busted budget. Bloated.”
A successful strategy to blame Democrats for a government shutdown threat would certainly be great for Republicans. House GOP leaders are reportedly “desperate” to avoid yet another Republican-led fight over the budget that ends in a government shutdown. According to Politico Republican party leaders are rushing to find a way to avoid the inevitable media catastrophe that will occur if they don’t figure out a solution to this Planned Parenthood debacle before funding dries up in three weeks.
Paul, who is currently polling at about 3 percent in the presidential race, does not seem to have that same mindset.
“There has never been a better time,” he said.