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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night, news reports broke that the U.S. Senate parliamentarian gave the greenlight to several provisions in the U.S. Senate reconciliation bill related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and funding for Planned Parenthood. The Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act would remove for one year funding under several mandatory programs such as Medicaid to abortion entities including Planned Parenthood. The bill would also repeal key provisions of the health care law, which encourage subsidies for abortion coverage and threatens conscience protections.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins made the following statement about this legislation:
“The eyes of the pro-life movement will now intensely focus on the U.S. Senate. There is only one congressional hurdle remaining in the effort to stop the flow of tax dollars to Planned Parenthood, which has been embroiled in controversy over the sale of baby body parts: a simple majority vote in the U.S. Senate. The news that several provisions, including the one to defund abortion groups, has been determined by the Senate parliamentarian to comply with the strict budget rules provides a clear path forward. While this reconciliation measure doesn’t cut Obamacare off at the root, it strikes a very serious blow to the failed law and is an important step forward.
“Last month, the House of Representatives, with a strong majority vote, passed this reconciliation bill that effectively removes the significant majority of federal funding of Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion chain in the country, responsible for killing an estimated 320,000 unborn children every year. This represents about one-third of all abortions in the United States.
“We commend the House leadership for its work to free taxpayers from this forced partnership with the nation’s largest abortion provider and for eviscerating the President’s fatally flawed healthcare law. It’s now the moral responsibility of Republican Senators to support this bill and make progress toward fulfilling their campaign promises that helped them secure the congressional majority,” concluded Perkins.
Family Research Council's score letter can be found here: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF15J58.pdf
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