Pro-life legislators use procedural maneuver in effort to beat Planned Parenthood filibuster

 
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

The House of Representatives has voted numerous times to redirect Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding to more deserving healthcare providers. You know, ones that don’t defraud Medicaid, cover up statutory rape, or sell baby parts. What a concept.

Unfortunately, all of those efforts have fallen flat in the Senate. Back in August, a pro-life measure on Planned Parenthood won the votes of 53 Senators. But the majority wasn’t enough; Planned Parenthood only needed 40 Senators in its pocket to filibuster the bill.

So this time, we’re doing things a little differently, with a budget reconciliation measure. I’m no expert on the ins and outs of Congressional procedure, so here’s how National Right to Life explains it:

Budget reconciliation is a process Congress can use only on certain kinds of legislation. But the genius of this approach is that budget reconciliation is one of the few procedures where senators in opposition cannot filibuster to block a bill. They have to allow a vote!

That means a bill can be passed with the support of a majority of senators – 51votes – instead of the 60 votes needed to stop a bill-killing filibuster. 

The House vote is expected today. Then it will be up to a simple majority of the Senate. Finally, Obama will be forced to make a stark, public decision: fund his political allies, or increase funding for community health clinics.

We all know which he’ll choose. But it’s important to get him on the record and underscore the need for a pro-life president in 2016.