In just about four days, government funding runs out. Meanwhile, the House, Senate, and White House have quietly been negotiating a deal before the December 11th deadline. But, like usual, there have been some snags.
House Democrats are asking for COVID relief in the trillions. According to an article in Politico, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer “offered a secret proposal to McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday that sources said totaled around $1.3 trillion.” Washington Democrats must really believe that money grows on trees.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported:
“Senate Republican leaders circulated a slimmed-down plan Tuesday that would probably be fiercely opposed by Democrats. The measure includes a liability shield for businesses and more small-business assistance. It would provide short-term, limited jobless aid but no additional funding for state and local governments or help for cash-strapped transit agencies.”
Unfortunately, it seems quite likely that the government funding bill, or omnibus, will provide some sort of COVID relief to the American people. We can only hope that Republicans hold the line on pro-life protections or legislative riders.
It is vital that our legislators prevent any taxpayer funding from going towards abortion services both domestically and abroad. We are grateful that President Trump has successfully done this throughout his term through the maintenance of the Hyde Amendment and the reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy. As you may recall, Hyde ensures no taxpayer funding of abortions and the Mexico City Policy bans abortion promotion overseas. Now is not the time for Republicans to back down on these protections and give in to the expansion of abortion funding in spending bills.
To add to this, now is the time to defund Planned Parenthood. President Trump made steps toward doing so through the reforms he made to Title X in 2019. Specifically, these changes target abortion providers, like Planned Parenthood, who have manipulated the Title X federal funding stream into supplementing their “reproductive health services.” The regulation made steps to “defund” Planned Parenthood and other organizations like it by:
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Creating a financial and physical separation between an organization’s healthcare facility and abortion facility.
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Eliminating the requirement that recipients must offer abortion counseling and refer their patients for an abortion.
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Implementing better reporting of Title X subrecipients to better ensure funds are not being used for abortion.
But our Senators and Representatives can do better. Planned Parenthood must be completely defunded. In fiscal year 2018, the organization performed 345,672 abortions, up from 332,757 abortions in fiscal year 2017. In addition, Planned Parenthood has joined in on the ultra-progressive sexual orientation and gender identity politicking. While Planned Parenthood says that not all its locations can offer hormone therapy at this time, many of their local centers do. According to Planned Parenthood of Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands:
“We offer gender-affirming hormone care for patients 18 years and older at all of our 27 health centers You don’t need to participate in therapy or provide information from a mental health provider to receive hormone therapy.”
Absolutely NO taxpayer dollars should be going to Planned Parenthood. Please join us in asking your Representative and Senator to hold the line on pro-life protections and defunding Planned Parenthood in all spending bills.
