Planned Parenthood Declares Victory, Praises Fully Funded Budget Deal
Federal lawmakers unveiled a new budget-busting spending compromise that fully funds Planned Parenthood, and the popular abortion provider and President Barack Obama are declaring victory.
President Obama and Democrats consistently said they would not go along with a budget deal that did not fully fund the popular abortion provider.
Defunding Planned Parenthood was a popular talking point among many pro-life Congressional members and Republicans in the wake of this year's aborted-baby-parts-harvesting scandal that emboldened pro-life activists.
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On the presidential campaign trail, many of the Republican candidates said that they would be willing to shut down the government over the issue, a position which never appeared to be seriously considered by Republican leadership in the U.S. House or Senate.
The popular women's health and abortion organization is fully funded through at least September 2016, when a new federal spending budget will be debated.
"Extreme members of Congress spent an entire year targeting access to reproductive health care at every opportunity," said Dana Singiser, vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood in a statement reported The Hill. "Today's budget bill maintains access to critical preventive health services and lacks these harmful attacks on women's health care — at home and abroad."
The budget also fully funds Obama's Syrian resettlement plans, climate change initiatives, and the president's executive actions on immigration policy.
The White House heralded the $1.1 trillion dollar budget deal as a substantial victory.
"We succeeded," declared White House spokesmen Josh Earnest.
"So we walked into these negotiations focused on making sure that Republicans would not succeed in advancing their ideological agenda through the budgetary process," said Earnest.
"I think, based on all of the solid reporting work that you have done over the last several weeks, there were a variety of attempts that Republicans undertook to try to do exactly that, and we did succeed in fighting off those efforts," he added.
Earnest repeatedly bragged that the White House was able to fight off ideological riders to the bill, one being altering funding to Planned Parenthood.
The vast majority of the House Freedom Caucus is expected to vote against the budget bill, citing Planned Parenthood funding as one of many reasons to oppose the legislation.
Planned Parenthood has received federal funding since 1970. The Hyde Amendment specifically restricts federal funding for abortions, but opponents of the organization have long argued that federal funds frees up resources for abortions.
"I still hold out some hope that Mr. Obama may finally realize that whatever his views on abortion, it is indefensible to continue to force taxpayers to fund a corporation that has been complicit in covering up sex trafficking and the sexual abuse of minors, that lies to women about the complications of abortion procedures and how developed the babies are in their wombs, that has had hundreds of documented health and safety violations, and that has been caught on video promoting illegal race- and sex-selective abortions," said Lila Rose, president of Live Action in a December statement.
